The Individuality Of Portugal A Study In Historical Political Geography

$5.00

The
of

BY DAN STANISLAWSKI

Many curious users of maps have wondered
why Portugal, sharing with Spain the semi-
isolated and apparently unitary Iberian Pen-
insula, ever became a separate and independ-
ent nation. That question is answered by Dr.
Dan Stanislawski in THE INDIVIDUALITY
OF PORTUGAL.

The book is more than an answer to this
specific question. It is also a study in the evo-
lution of national cultures generally, especially
as they have operated in Portugal and, to a
lesser extent, in Spain to produce separate
nations. THE INDIVIDUALITY OF POR-
TUGAL thus provides a penetrating discussion
of principles that modern statesmen might well
consider in fixing the boundaries of nations.

Dr. Stanislawski's purpose is to resolve the
dispute between the two schools of historians
who disagree conceding the suarce of Por-
tugal's national i idependence -those who
claim that PrrU^Ui became ? situate country
because of its geography and related factors,
and those who maintah that its distinctive
character resulted irom the incidents of his-
tory iinl tie decisions of its political leaders.

AniGLg die factors that created a separate
and independent Portugal, Dr. Stanislawski
states, are these;

(1) The ancient cultural differences be-
tween people cf die humid periphery of Iberia
and those of its i : t 3iic r meseta.

(2) Spdn's preoccupation with her own
affairs.

(3) Portugal's advantageous position on the
Atlantic, which provided excellent ports, the

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The Individuality of Portugal

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IBERIA-PLACE NAMES

1. Iberia: Place Names

The Individuality of

PORTUGAL

A Study in Historical-Political Geography

BY DAN STANISLAWSKI

University of Texas Press, Austin

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS PRESS

AUSTIN 12

THOMAS NELSON AND SONS LTD

Parkside Works Edinburgh 9

36 Park Street London Wl

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Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 59-8119
1959 by the University of Texas Press

Published with the Assistance of a Grant

from the Ford Foundation

under its Program for the Support of Publications

in the Humanities and Social Sciences

Manufactured in the United States of America

For Doris

Acknowledgments

I AM GRATEFUL to the John Simon Guggenheim
Memorial Foundation and to the Social Science
Research Council for the material aid given to me
for the field work that preceded the writing of this
book.

Many individuals have been generous in reading
parts or all of the manuscript; Carl 0. Sauer, John
B. Leighly, and Raymond I. Storie of the Univer-
sity of California at Berkeley; Jan 0, M. Broek of
the University of Minnesota; Billie Lee Turner of
the University of Texas; and Julio Caro Baroja of
the Museo del Pueblo Espanol, Madrid, Spain.
None of them, however, should be penalized for
their generosity by blame for any errors in my
conclusions, or other deficiencies.

Very special gratitude goes to my wife for the
great help that she has given me through all stages
of inquiry and the preparation of the book.

I am indebted to the Institute do Vinho do Porto
for the photograph of the Douro River canyon that
is used.

To the dozens of other Portuguese and Spaniards
who so generously helped me I offer my thanks,
The list is too long to print.

D.S.

Contents

Acknowledgments ....... vii

Introduction ........ 3

1. Landforms of Northwest and West Iberia . . 11

2. The Climate of Western Iberia .... 32

3. The Soils of Northern and Western Iberia . . 43

4. Vegetation Regions of Northern and Western Iberia 52

5. Prehistoric Immigrants into Iberia .... 60

6. Early Central European Influences in Iberia . . 70

7. Contacts between the Ancient Civilizations of the

Eastern Mediterranean and Iberia ... 86

8. The Period of Roman Conquest and Control . . 108

9. The Germanic Conquest 121

10. Moslem Domination 137

11. The Reconquest of Iberia 144

12. Final Steps toward Portuguese Independence . 164

13. Completion of the Portuguese State . . . 171

14. Development of Portuguese International Relations 183

15. The Geography of Portuguese-Spanish Boundaries 190

16. Environment and Culture ..... 204

17. The Geographical Basis of Portuguese Political

Independence: A Summation .... 212

Bibliography 219

Index 229

Photographs

Lima River in Portugal, Not Far from the Spanish Border 13

Tua River in Tras-os-Montes 15

The Duero River at Zamora ...... 16

The Duero (Douro) River Where It Is the Boundary

between Portugal and Spain ..... 17

Braganga and the High Plains of Tras-os-Montes . 18

The Upper Alentejo: Plowmen with Quercus Hex in

Background ........ 25

The Upper Alentejo: Olive Grove .... 25

The Upper Alentejo from Estremoz .... 27

TheCaldeirao 27

Monchique: Schist Crests below Terraces on the Syenite 28

A Verraco in Ciudad Rodrigo 74

Salt-evaporating Basins in the Algarve ... 88

XII

Alvor, Where People Have Fished since Phoenician Times 100

Figs in the Algarve 105

The Spanish Meseta between Valladolid and Salamanca:

A Threshing Ground 126

A Farm in the Minho 128

Mondego River Valley, East of Coimbra in Central

Portugal 130

One of the Valleys of the Center of the Minho . . 132

The Lower Alentejo near Beja 134

The Old Fortress City of Elvas in the Alentejo . . 176

Along the Spanish-Portuguese Border, in Northeast

Minho 193

Tras-os-Montes: A Tin Mine ..... 195

Tras-os-Montes: Threshing Rye 196

An Estate of the Lower Alentejo . . . .198

Mertola on the Guadiana River ..... 201

Tajo River in Caceres Province, Spain .... 205

Figures

1. Iberia: Place Names .... Frontispiece

2. "Rain-Shadow" Mountains of Northwest Iberia . 8

3. Iberia: Mountain Regions . . . facing 11

4. Northern Portugal and Adjacent Regions of Spain 20

5. Actual January Isotherms of the Iberian Peninsula 33

6. Yearly Precipitation in the Iberian Peninsula facing 34

7. Climatic Stations of Portugal .... 37

8. Soil Regions of Western Europe .... 44

9. Vegetation Zones of Europe .... 54
10. Iberian Culture Areas as Delimited by Strabo . 109
11 a. Area of Primitive Granaries . . . . .110
lib. Area of the Chillon Cart 110

12. Tribal Divisions in Northwestern Iberia during the

Roman Period 112

XIV

13. Population Density in the Iberian Peninsula . 191

14. Arabic and Arabized Topographic Names . . 207

15. Germanic Place Names 209

The Individuality of

PORTUGAL

Introduction

N THE PRESENT state of world affairs, it is not un-
common for cynical representatives of great powers to
sketch boundaries of new small states on flat maps,
ignoring the peoples involved, their wishes, or their
habitual associations. Perhaps the average person, thinking of
Western Europe, is apt to assume that in a world of quick and
radical change most small states have been established in this
way. It is often overlooked that there are durable states, with
persistent boundaries that represent more than mere colored
outlines in an atlas, whose frontiers mark the limits, not only
of an area of land, but of a population that has long been asso-
ciated with that territory. The habits and values of such people
have been established in relation to the land upon which they
have lived, to the climate affecting it, and to the soils and
vegetation that respond to a complex of factors belonging to
that specific territory. Economy, transport, and human associa-
tions of all sorts become involved with the specific milieu and
are to some extent limited by it.
The populations of neighboring states, which have developed

INTRODUCTION

under variant physical and historical conditions,, have become
associated with their land through an individual set of cultural
practices which, though useful where they have evolved, may
not be fitting elsewhere. In short, culture lias roots, not only
in men's minds, but in the land upon which it develops. Once
having taken shape, a culture complex thrives best in its own
type of surroundings. When peoples migrate, taking with them
their attitudes and values, they choose areas for settlement that
broadly meet their habitual needs, areas that are physically
reminiscent of that from winch they came.

However, culture is not a static tiling. It is always changing.
Although in a conservative area the trend and degree of change
may be imperceptible to any one generation, it is rapid and
obvious with migration. No matter how diligently a human
group may seek lands which are precisely the same as those
from which it came, success can be only partial. No piece of
land is exactly the same as a second, any more than one man
is the exact duplicate of another. Migrants make adjustments
in their new environment, and in so doing create new values
and attitudes. Thus the new territory is the birthplace of a new
culture group, related to that of the older territory, yet with
its own distinct characteristics.

This book is concerned with Portugal, but Portugal is a small
part of a semi-isolated peninsula which seems to be, and is,
in many respects, a natural unit. Yet a Portuguese is not a
Spaniard. No Portuguese would say otherwise, and probably
few foreigners who know both nations would disagree. Span-
iards, however, may take exception to such a statement, for
the belief is traditional in Spain that the unitary quality of the
peninsula is the important fact and that differences are negli-
gible. Spaniards point to physical areas common to both Spain
and to Portugal and to the mutually shared historical experi-
ences under the Romans, the Visigoths, and the Moslems. In
view of these facts, they say it is culturally contradictory, eco-
nomically disadvantageous, and politically inexpedient that one
small section be divorced from the rest of the peninsula. The
Portuguese reply to the Spanish contention is apt to be some-

INTRODUCTION

thing like this "Of course we are part of the peninsula, and
we obviously share common peninsular traits with Spaniards,
but the peninsula is not homogeneous. Our part of it is unique,
and our habits and attitudes are distinct. We make up an inde-
pendent unit with good reason."

As a part of the peninsula, Portugal has shared with Spain
both physical areas and cultural experiences, the latter es-
pecially in prehistory and in early historical times. These cul-
tural experiences are profoundly important to both nations, and
the evidence of their importance is still to be found on both
sides of the political border. In an attempt to describe the
unique personality of the Portuguese state it will be necessary
to describe, as a part of that personality, the introduction and
development of many of the cultural qualities that belong also
to Spain. But Portugal is unique, and in stating this one has
also said that Spain is iinique. Each one may be distinct either
by its own unique experiences or by the lack of the experiences
of the other. The problem of Portuguese individuality must be
attacked not only through a study of Portugal, but also in seek-
ing the fundamental bases of individuality and uniqueness in
Spain as well. In limited fashion, but sufficiently to establish
Iberian differences, it is hoped, the physical and historical con-
ditions of Spain will be treated. For example, one chapter of
this book is devoted largely to Greek trade along the coasts of
the area of present Spain, and in it hardly a word is said about
Portugal. This is necessary, for a unique Spain is part of the
evolution of a disparate Portugal. That Portugal took almost
no part in Greek trade is as important to its distinction as
is the earlier "castro" or hilltop fort culture that was mostly
Portuguese and Spanish only in minor degree.

The question must be answered, however, as to how Portugal
came to a sense of its own distinct character, and then, con-
scious of its individuality, was able to establish its inde-
pendence from the other four-fifths of the peninsula. Is Portu-
gal clearly different from Spain physically? If so, what has been
the effect of this difference upon the development of culture
regions? Or are those Portuguese authors correct who claim

6

INTRODUCTION

that their country is a unit only because of the accidents
of history, or the inspiration and determination of individual
leaders?

The problem would be far simpler if the Portuguese, in al-
most complete unanimity as to their individuality, did not differ
so widely as to its genesis. Divergent opinions are almost as
numerous as the individuals expressing them. In the middle of
the nineteenth century, the great Portuguese historian, Alexan-
dra Herculano, maintained with vigor that credit should be
given to Portuguese nobles and kings, whose personal decisions
led to the political independence of Portugal. 1 His conclusion
was commonly accepted throughout the latter nineteenth cen-
tury, and indeed has strong support today. Professor Aristides
de Amorim Girao, the eminent geographer at the University
of Coimbra, says flatly that the strong arms of the early Portu-
guese are to receive credit, and that the physical nature of the
area has had little or nothing to do with the case. 2

Other scholars in late years have supported quite another
point of view. Many believe that there are important physical
differences which, although not compulsive, have contributed
substantially to the Portuguese individuality finally reflected in
independence. Hermann Lautensach, the German geographer,
who has worked long and productively in Portugal, conceives
of Portugal as being distinct geomorphologically, in the com-
plex of its vegetation, in climate, in population distribution,
and in other factors essentially based upon a unique physical
nature. He would make no claims for an environmental de-
terminism, but points to what he believes to be an especial
physical constitution in Portugal that was the foundation upon
which a discrete culture area developed; 5

1 Alexandra Herculano, Historia de Portugal (7th eel), I, 36-40.

- A. cle Amorim Girao, Condicoes geogrdficus c Jiitftoricas del autonotnid
politica de Portugal, pp. 19-20, 30; "Imposibilidade de sustentar pelu
geografia a separa^ao politica entre Portugal e Espunhu," B/Wav, V
(1929), 304-314; "Origines de Fetat Portuguis," Revue Geographic/lie
dcs Pyrenees ct du Sud-Ouest, XI, Nos. 3-4 (1940), 155-158.

' 5 Anyone concerned with the geography of Portugal, should, at the
outset, express gratitude to Hermann Lautensach for his many excellent

INTRODUCTION

It is not a simple problem to compare and assess the opposing
contentions and to try to reach a reasonable conclusion as to
merits and deficiencies, Many things are involved more, obvi-
ously, than can be properly handled by one author, and many
more than can be satisfactorily treated in one book. So I shall
make no attempt to fit within the accustomed categories "his-
torical geography" or "political geography." Especially in the
case of political geography I shall not attempt to consider many
of the materials that are conventionally used, since they are
not, in my opinion, pertinent to the subject of the book
Portuguese individuality.

The Portuguese state is the logical expression of a unique
culture area which had evolved early in history and took clearly
defined form before the sixteenth century. For this reason,
economic and historical development prior to that time will
be given the most attention. The materials used will be those
which seem to have the greatest bearing upon the problem and
which offer most aid to its understanding.

This study will maintain the point of view that there was a
culture area in the northwest of the peninsula distinct from
that of the interior, and that although a human decision was
the immediate cause of Portuguese political independence,
such a decision would have been fruitless had there not been

publications. With reference to the ideas expressed in this introduction
see the following: "Geopolitisches von der Spanisch-Portugiesischen
Grenze," Zeitschrift fur Geopolitik, V (1928), 371-374 (in this article
he forswears any complete dependence of the political unit upon "natural"
factors; see especially p. 372); "Die Iberische Halbinsel als Schauplatz
der geschichtlichen Bewegung," Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft fur Erdkunde
zu Berlin, Nos. 3-4 (June, 1948), pp. 101-123, especially p. 120; "Lebens-
raumfragen der Iberischen Volker," Lebensraumfragen Europdischer
Volker, I, Europa, 493-536, especially p. 509; "Der politische Dualismus
der Iberischen Halbinsel/' Zeitschrift fur Geopolitik, VI, No. 2 (1929),
782-788. In many of his articles, Lautensach specifically disavows a
crude environmentalism. However, it is impossible for a reader not to
infer from his selection and treatment of materials his belief in the funda-
mental importance of physical factors. This attitude is even more obvious
in his "A Individualidade geografica de Portugal no conjunto da Penin-
sula Iberica," Boletim da Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa, XLIX
(1931), 362-409.

INTRODUCTION

8

6

LaCoruna

Figure 2. "Rain-Shadow" Mountains of Northwest Iberia

persistent historical and cultural differences between the north-
west periphery and the great interior tableland, the meseta.
It was in the northwest, where physical differences between
the meseta and the Atlantic border are the most obvious, that
the culture hearth and the political state of Portugal were first
established. (Fig. 2.) To understand the development of Portu-
guese individuality this fact must always be kept in mind. The
south is a later appendage, and the thesis that physical differ-
ences are basic to present political differences cannot be main-
tained for this region, as political factors may have had greater
importance there.

Although the association of physical areas with culture
regions will be made, there will be no attempt to support the
view that the physical area inspired or compelled culture
growth. All of Iberia has been affected by numerous migratory

9

INTRODUCTION

groups. It will be the contention of this book that, insofar as
we know, these migratory groups have selected areas suitable
to their values, experience, and habits of use and wont. In
short, selection has been made in terms of environmental suit-
ability to technological equipment and habitual preferences.

Central Europeans migrating into the Iberian peninsula have
made their greatest mark upon the rainy northern and north-
western regions of Iberia, areas similar to those from which
they came. Mediterranean migrants from either Europe or
Africa who moved into Iberia concentrated in the lands fring-
ing the sea. This fact gives a large degree of physical unity
and considerable cultural unity to its bordering shores. How-
ever, in Iberia there is a great body of land lying between the
green north and northwest and that southern fringing area
which can be called Mediterranean. This great central table-
land, the meseta, is a blend of Europe and Africa. The concept
that "Africa ends at the Pyrenees" is not without merit, but to
avoid distortion one might also add that Europe ends at the
Sierra Morena, just to the north of the Guadalquivir River. The
meseta is a world in itself. Its climate is unique in Europe. The
blend of European with African cultures has created a culture
both complex and unique. Perhaps it is the mixture of Central
European and Mediterranean (both European and African
Mediterranean) cultures in the meseta that has made it bleak,
harsh, and sparsely populated as it is the center of control
of Iberia through much of the time since the breakdown of
Rome.

Cultural differences between Mediterranean Iberia (the
south and northeast) and Central European Iberia (the north
and northwest) reach beyond historical or archaeological evi-
dence. But insofar as we have knowledge, they seem to have
always been equated in their distribution with the major physi-
cal differences within the peninsula. As the association of physi-
cal areas with culture groups will be stressed, it should be well
to outline, at the outset, those traits of the physical landscape
that have bearing upon the subject, such as topography, cli-

10

INTRODUCTION

mate, soils, and vegetation. In dealing with them it should be
remembered that Portugal is the subject of primary interest
especially northwest Portugal where the state took form and
that other areas are considered only when they have bearing
upon the major concern. Later chapters dealing with historical
development will also treat the northwest as the center of
attention.

AREAS ABOVE BBI

AND

R p, nw , 1 1000 METERS

BELOW t^J

Figure 3. Iberia: Mountain Regions

CHAPTER 1

Landforms of Northwest
and West Iberia

____jjjg JJJQJJLAND rim extending continuously from
JS I the eastern Pyrenees across northern Spain and south-
< -L ward into northern Portugal has a distinct physical
&WVW 1 character and, through its effect upon climate, creates
a distinct character for the meseta. The surface form of the
great central tableland is relatively simple and for the purposes
of this study need not concern us. The landforms of the north-
west, however, especially those in the north of present Portugal,
must be considered in some detail, for this area is pertinent to
our problem.

THE MINHO PROVINCE

The most important fact of North Portuguese landform is
its seaward slope. This orientation is most obvious in the
province of the Minho, where mountains to the east (the
Peneda, Gerez, Cabreira, Alvao, Marao, and Montemuro) form
an amphitheater facing the Atlantic Ocean (Fig. 3. See Fig. 1
for additional place names). Such heights allow northwest

12

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

Portugal to turn its back upon the meseta of Spain. Due not
only to their elevation but also to their geologic and tectonic
history, they represent an area of limited usefulness and sparse
population. Here events of nearly three hundred million years
ago cast their shadow upon present human affairs. The general
area is one of Hercynian folding, which resulted not only in
the metamorphosis of existing rocks but also in great intrusions
of granite. 1 Late Tertiary re-elevation and subsequent erosion
resulted in the complete exposure of the ancient crystallines
and granites along a line making a gentle arc, convex toward
the sea, from near La Coruna, running south-southeastward
through the areas of Vila Real and Guarda in Portugal and into
Spain near Alcantara. It is also a zone of shatter breaks marked
by lines of thermal springs, especially in the granites.

In this part of Iberia, geology has no relation to the political
boundary. A granite massif extends from the west border of
Asturias through Galicia and thence southward through the
province of the Minlio. South of the Douro River it is buried
along the coast by later (post-Paleozoic) sediments, but inland
it continues as a surface feature almost to the city of Coimbra.
This massif in Galicia forms an amorphous mass, but its projec-
tions extending into Portugal take clear form as crests roughly
parallel to each other, running in a south-southwest direction
(Peneda, Gerez, Alturas, Alvao). The Minhotos call these col-
lectively as Montanlias (the Mountains), one of the subdivi-
sions that they make of their province. Paralleling these ridges,
the rivers run in their deeply trenched valleys, the Lima, the

1 In this chapter I have used material from the following works of
Hermann Lautensach: 1. "A Indivklualiclacle geografiea do Portugal no
conjunto da Peninsula Ibcrica," Boletim da Sociedade do Geogi'afia dc
Lishoa, XLIX (1931); "Portugal: Auf Gnmd ei goner Kelson uncl tier
Literatur." 1. "Das Land als Gauzes," PetGrmanna Miil&ilungan, No. 213
(Gotha, 1932); 2. "Die portugiesischcn Landschaftcn," ibid., No. 230
(Gotha, 1937).

I have made use also of materials from Orlando Ribeiro, Portugal;
from A. de Atnorim Girao, Geografia de Portugal; from Pierre Birot, Lc
Portugal; and from Mariano Feio, A Evolugfio do rclevo do baixo Alcntejo
e Algarve.

14

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

Cavado, the Homem, and the Tamega. A typical phenomenon
of the Minho Province is that of a broad, flat valley floor lying
sharply against steep bordering slopes. The form and the paral-
lelism of the valleys suggest tectonic derivation and the horsts
of Marao and Padrela at the eastern edge seem to confirm
it but the genesis is largely of another sort. The forms are
simply the result of the typical erosional development of gran-
ite in northwest Portugal. Here, either along fault lines or in
rejuvenated valleys the process of river erosion widens the floor
without reducing the angle of slopes, which recede parallel to
their earlier position."

Seaward from the granite crests is an area of low valleys,
called o Centra (the Center), irregular in shape and si?;e and
partially enclosed by granite spurs. It is a fertile area of dense
settlement and the core of Portuguese nationality. The Coast
is the third division which a Minhoto makes of his province. It
is an emergent coast, with a narrow beach sloping gradually
upward to the slight eminences just a few miles inland, against
which the waves of the Pliocene sea washed.

TRAS-OS-MONTES PROVINCE

The Minho shares with its eastern neighboring province the
mountains described above. These heights form the physical
division topographic and climatic, with all that this implies
in human terms between the green Minho Province and its
eastern neighbor, the aptly named province of Trus-os-Montes."
The latter, lying in the lee of the mountains, in the northeast
of Portugal, is bordered on two sides by Spain and physically
is an extension of the Spanish meseta. However, it has char-
acteristics peculiarly its own. Unlike the Spanish pencplanc
with its low relief and Tertiary cover, the high, partly dissected

2 Orlando Ribeiro, Portugal pp. 19-23, 31.

15 That is, "on the other side of the mountains/* The name properly
implies the history of the province with regard to the earlier establish-
ment of the Minho as a political center and the later adherence of Tras-
os-Montes.

Tua River in Trds-os-Montes

16

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

The Duero River at Zaniora

plateau on the Portuguese side of the border is constituted
largely by Pre-Cambrian materials, and is deeply incised by its
rivers, which have carved canyons up to sixteen hundred feet
deep into the ancient crystalline rocks. In addition to tins dif-
ference in the effect of the rivers, there is the feature of unre-
duced remnants of former elevations, which project high above
the peneplane surface on the Portuguese side of the border.

RIVERS AND THEIR EFFECT UPON HUMAN AFFAIRS

The Spanish Duero flows lazily westward to beyond Zamora;
and its tributaries, also leisurely streams, come into it from the
east-southeast or from the northwest. At Paradela, where it
becomes international (the Douro, in Portugal); 1 it suddenly
bends to the southwest, cutting violently into the old plateau
surface, dropping over sixteen hundred feet during the next
seventy-six miles. To the west of the canyon, the right bank

4 For the international streams both the Portuguese and the Spanish

names will be given in the first reference. In subsequent references the
spelling will be suited to the area under discussion.

19

IANDFOBMS

tributaries in Tras-os-Montes roughly parallel the international
stream, and are separated from each other by northeast-south-
west trending crests. This change in direction and degree of
slope of mountains and rivers is a phenomenon of the zone of
northeast Portugal that borders Leon.

Because of the position of the highland areas, most of the
streams of Portugal north of the Douro are purely Portuguese
streams. There is an important Spanish section of the Minho
River (Miiio, in Spain), which has its sources in the northern
mountains of Galicia. The Lima (Limia, in Spain) River runs
for approximately half of its course in southern Galicia and
enters Portugal through the sharply cut canyon between the
servos of Peneda and Amarela. The Tamega also has a portion
of its course in Galicia, in the region of the town of Verin. This
stretch, however, is but a few miles long and is separated from
the rest of Galicia by relatively high country. Aside from these
three streams, all others have their sources either within Portu-
gal or on the south slope of the mountains along the frontier.
The valleys of the streams are narrow and of limited, if any,
usefulness near their headwaters, but they widen downstream.

The fact that all of the Tras-os-Montes streams cut deep'
canyons into the old plateau surface is not only of physio-
graphic but also of economic and political significance, for
these valley bottoms, where they are wide enough for use, with
advantageous climatic conditions, are ribbons of fertility in an
otherwise meagre territory. Their topographic gradient is also
their economic and political gradient. Routes to the west are
open, whereas all are blocked to the east and north, either by
high mountains or by narrow canyons, where the turbulent
streams make navigation impossible and where cultivable land
is absent (e.g., the Douro between Paradela and Barca d'Alva,
and the international Macas, in Spain, the Manzanas). The
economic current, by reason of these facts, is westward, away
JFrom the Spanish border and toward the Portuguese lowland.

21

LANDFORMS

THE EXTENSION OF NORTHERN ROCKS AND FORMS
INTO MIDDLE PORTUGAL; UPPER BEIRA

The rocks and landforms of the Minho extend southward
beyond the Douro River to a point north of the city of Coimbra,
where the granite Caramulo, whose northeast-southwest strike
is that of its counterparts in the northern province, marks their
termination. This brings the rocks and landforms of the Moun-
tains of the Minho Province well into the drainage of the
Mondego River of Middle Portugal However, not only the
Mountains of the Minho extend south of the Douro River; the
Center of the Minho also is extended recognizably as the low
mountain-girt valleys of the Beiras; and a short stretch of coast
to the south of the Douro River is a southern extension of the
Coast of the Minho.

Most of Middle Portugal is included in the Beira provinces,
so named (Beira means border) because the lands south of the
Douro River were frontiers during the period of reconquest
and resettlement (ninth to twelfth centuries) which stemmed
from the early Portuguese nucleus in the Minho. Likewise, they
form the frontier of Tras-os-Montes, and here also one can
recognize a southern companion-piece to the northern prov-
ince. The heart of Upper Beira (that part of the Beiras lying
to the northwest of the great dividing range, the Serra da
Estrela) is an elevgted plain, partly dissected by the streams
of the Mondego system. Although the carving of the streams
has been vigorous, it has not destroyed the essential unity of
interfluvial surfaces. Like Tras-os-Montes, this high plain is an
extension of the meseta of Old Castile. Also, like its northern
neiglibor, it differs from the Spanish area in the form of its
stream valleys.

The Agueda River, a left-bank tributary of the Duero, takes
its northwesterly course through the high plateau of Old Cas-
tile in leisui'ely fashion, comparable to that of the Spanish
Duero. At the frontier it has cut an even steeper gradient than
the Duero into the ancient rocks before the two streams meet
above Barca d'Alva. ( In fifteen miles the Agueda drops nearly

22

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

eight hundred feet for an average decline of approximately
fifty-two feet per mile compared with twenty-one feet per mile
for the international Duero.) The valley of the Coa River,
another left-bank tributary of the Douro River, is called terra
quente (hot country) by the Portuguese, a term used to de-
scribe such low, protected valleys which are favored by cli-
matic conditions so different from those of the high plateau
directly above them. The term is applied equally to the valley
of the Sabor River in Tras-os-Montes, due north of the Coa, and
to several others in each province. Most streams of the Beira
meet the Douro in an acute angle as do those from the north.
The exceptions on either side of the master-stream seem to be
those directed by tectonics. For example, the Coa and its north-
ern companion-piece, the Vilariga, tributary of the Sabor, flow
almost due north and south respectively along fault lines. The
high plain of the Beiras extends westward until it ends at the
Bussaco Mountains, north-northeast of the city of Coimbra. On
the northwest it is bounded by the mountains of Caramulo,
Montemuro, and their extensions. On the southeast its bound-
ary is the great fault line along which the Serra da Estrela was
raised.

THANSMONTANE BEIKA

The northeastern section of Upper Beira, sometimes termed
Transmontane Beira, is like Tras-os-Montes not only in that it
is distant from the ocean, but also in that the effect of oceanic
influence is dinjunished because of the mojuntain masses west
of it. The area includes the drainage of the Coa River. Farther
south, this Portuguese extension of the Spanish mewta con-
tinues through the so-called Guarda Gate, lying to the cast of
the city of Guarda, a high, bleak plateau surface, averaging
almost three thousand feet in elevation, between the Scrra da
Estrela on the west and the Sierra de Gata and its Portuguese
relative, the Serra das Mesas, on the east. The Guarda Gate,
like its Spanish companions, the Gates of Bejar and Avila, con-
nects, without major topographic obstacle, the ancient erosion
surface of the north mesela with that of the south.

23

LANDFORMS

LOWER BEIRA

About fifteen miles south of the latitude of the city of Guarda
is the water parting between the affluents of the Douro River
at the north and those of the Tejo River (Tap, in Spain; Tagus,
commonly on American and English maps) at the south. This
divide is approximately at the northern boundary of the prov-
ince of Lower Beira, most of which lies between the levels of
sixteen hundred feet and seven hundred feet elevation. From
its highest elevations, Lower Beira slopes southward to the Tejo
River. As Upper Beira (or its eastern section known as Trans-
montane Beira) is a continuation of the plateau of Old Castile,
Lower Beira is an extension into Portugal of Spanish New
Castile; both provinces are transitional in character. Upper
Beira reflects the traits of its nearest neighbors, the Minho and
Tras-os-Montes, and Lower Beira shows strong affinities toward
the Alentejo, into which it imperceptibly merges on the south.
Castelo Branco of the Lower Beira is in many respects sug-
gestive of an Alentejo city, and the countryside is similarly
reminiscent.

THE SERRA DA ESTRELA

Between the Mondego and the Transmontane Beira exten-
sions of the ancient plateau, the great horst of the Serra da
Estrela has been thrust. This greatest Portuguese range has an
average width of about thirty miles and a length of seventy-five
miles. Here is found the highest point of the country (6,532
feet). This range, like the Serra das Mesas and the Spanish
sierras of Gata, Credos, and Guadarrama, was elevated along
great fault lines in Middle Tertiary time. As the great so-called
dividing ranges of Spain separate Old and New Castile, so does
the Serra da Estrela make an effective barrier between the
northern and southern parts of Portugal. Only along the littoral
on the west, or by the Guarda Gate on the east, is contact
between them conveniently made.

The Serra da Estrela is made up of a series of mesas., one set
back above another, which have now mostly weathered into

24

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

high rounded eminences with but few sharp crests. The bound-
ing fault along the northwest is clear, and, although there is
still discussion as to the geologic and tectonic history of the
other border areas, it is commonly accepted that the south-
eastern boundary also may be delimited along a series of fault
scarps. On the northeast the slopes grade into the plain of
Transrnontane Beira and on the southwest the granites of
the Estrela dip beneath the Triassic sandstones of Portuguese
Estremadura.

THE COASTAL FRINGE (BEIRA LITTORAL PLUS ESTREMADURA)

Of all of the territory lying between the Douro and Tejo
rivers only one important part can be said to be uniquely Portu-
guese and not a part of general Iberian landforms. This area
lies to the west of a line drawn almost due north-south from
Espinho through Coimbra to Tomar, and north of a line from
Tomar to Lisbon. The area thus delimited includes virtually
all of the modern provinces of Beira Littoral and Estremadura
and has no companion-piece in Spain or north of the Douro in
Portugal.

Its first and most obvious difference from the lands about
which we have been speaking thus far is that of geologic age.
It is a region in which the granites and schists, dominant in the
north and in most of the center of Portugal, are totally lacking.
Against these ancient rocks of the interior lies an almost con-
tinuous narrow band of Triassic sandstones reaching from
Tomar, just north of the Tejo River to north of Coimbra and,
discontinuously, as far north as the Vouga River. Westward
and southwestward from these Triassic sandstones lies a broad
band of limestones of Jurassic age, broken by considerable
areas of Cretaceous sandstones and conglomerates. Still farther
west, especially in the triangle bounded by a line drawn from
Espinho to Coimbra and from there to Nazarc, arc Tertiary
layers, dipping on the seaward side under Quaternary deposits.
Within these major, generalized rock areas are small enclaves
of disparate character. For example, within the general zone

The Upper Alentejo: Pbwmen with Quercus Ilex in Background

The Upper Akntejo: Olive Grove

26

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

of Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks are many areas of eruptives,
the most important of which is that of basalts just to the west
and northwest of Lisbon. Within the Tertiary zone are several
minor areas where Mesozoic rocks are exposed. The small
Berlenga Islands, lying offshore to the west of Cape Carvoeiro,
represent an isolated fragment of the ancient mass separated
from the latter by the Mesozoic area.

The differences in resistance to weathering of the limestones,
sandstones, and volcanic rocks has produced a region with great
variety of form. Occasionally one sees sandy hills or hills of
basalt, and calcareous eminences that do not reach more than
2,500 feet in elevation. These eminences are striking because of
their abrupt, sometimes karstic, arid, desolate slopes. On the
seaward border from the Douro River to the Mondego the coast
is low and slopes gradually inland. Against the ocean is one of
the greatest areas of dune sand of western Europe. Broken only
by Cape Mondego (near Figueira da Foz), sands have been
deposited as far south as Nazare, stretching along for over a
hundred miles and averaging two to five miles in width.

THE ALENTEJO

If one wanted to describe the Beiras in a single word he
would use "variety," but for the neighboring region to the south
only the word "monotony" would serve. There could hardly be
greater contrast than that between the Beiras in general and
the Alentejo, even though Lower Beira at the east makes an
imperceptible transition into the Upper Alentejo. The two areas
meet where ancient rocks have been modeled by erosion into
rolling countryside, with an average elevation of seven hundred
to sixteen hundred feet above seajtasjgl and sloping gcticrally
toward the west and the south. On the west, Lower Beira
makes an abrupt transition into the lands to the south, along
a series of faults presently reflected in the topography of the
area. The adjacent southern area is the Ribatejo (a subdivision
of Lower Alentejo), which is part of a great sedimentary basin
making up the lower section of both the Tejo and Sado river

te^ ^ ,

r ,**>'' '** ' " "^^*"'^^^^*^*-^*^t.i \ ^,. .

L^^- fK

MWf*^^

The Upper Alentejo from Esiremoz

29

LANDFORMS

drainages, from which the sea withdrew in mid-Tertiary times.
The Tertiary lands extend to the northwest of the river from
ten to fifteen miles on the average, but to a far greater extent
southward. There, its complex succession of continental sands,
clays, and limestones are transgressive over the ancient rock as
far as seventy-five miles south of the river, where the Tertiary
materials meet the Carboniferous, sedimentary schists of the
Lower Alentejo proper without a break in relief. The great
level or gently undulating plain of the Lower Alentejo, largely
under seven hundred feet in elevation, is a classic peneplain,
with but a few widely separated crests of modest height break-
ing the monotony.

THE SOUTHERN RANGES OF PORTUGAL

Toward its southern limit, the great plain of the Lower
Alentejo slopes upward to form mountain ranges, the Caldeirao
Mountains on the east and the schist matrix of the Monchique
Mountains on the west. The upfold of the schists resulted in
faults normal to the fold, that is, somewhat parallel to the south
coast of Portugal. The southern slopes of the mountains are
rugged areas of the unconformable meeting of schists with the
Mesozoic strata of the Algarve. The highest peak of the Cal-
deirao (Mu) is only 1,893 feet above sea level, but Monchique
is a unique phenomenon, for there a laccolith of syenite has
been exposed by erosion of the schists that formerly covered
it. Being more resistant to erosion than its matrix, the syenite
now towers nearly thirteen hundred feet above the highest
crests of the schist (syenite Foia, 2,959 feet) around it.

These southern Portuguese mountains represent a purely
Portuguese phenomenon, as they have no counterpart beyond
the Portuguese boundary. Separating the two mountain areas
is the Depression of S. Marcos, which represents a southern
extension of the plain of Lower Alentejo. To the west of the
Depression is a northwest-southeast trending fault, marking the
eastern edge of the Monchique Mass. From the eastern side of
the Depression the rise is gradual to the crests of the Caldeirao.

30

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

Another extension of the Alentejo surface is that to the west of
the mountains of Monchique, where the plain surface, veneered
by sands, can be identified along the Atlantic coast almost to
the southern extremity of Portugal, A third extension lies to the
east of the Caldeirao, where the Guadiana River has carved
its course through a southern projection of the plain which
reaches virtually to the southern sea coast.

THE ALGAKVE

The most southern political province of Portugal is named
the Algarve. It includes the mountains of Caldeirao and Mon-
chique, but this is a political device and not the expression of
either the people inhabiting the mountains nor those of the
lowlands beyond. A mountain man speaks of the Algarve,
meaning the limestone and littoral area of the extreme south,
and the Algarvian proper speaks of the mountaineers who in-
habit the schist uplands.

Several faults mark the approximate line of division between
the schists of the mountains and the Mesozoic measures of the
Algarve proper. Some of these faults have a northwest-south-
east direction and some run almost due west-east. Along the
edge of the schists, almost all of the way across the country,
is seen an exposure of a steeply dipping deposit of red con-
tinental sandstones, conglomerates, and marls of the Triassic.
To the south of the Triassic band are thick, hard beds of Dolo-
mite and compact limestones of the Lower Jurassic, forming
high crests separated by lowlands scoured out of softer marls.
Southward are successively younger and generally softer beds,
where the relief becomes one of crests (generally in east-west
direction) diminishing in height, and rough slopes separatee!
by increasingly broad valleys, excavated by streams where the
limestones are softer. South of the Mesozoic area is the littoral
of Late Tertiary deposits, including marine limestones of the
Miocene, and sands, gravels, and clays of Pliocene to recent
time. The littoral slopes from the sea edge to elevations of as
much as four hundred feet.

31

LANDFORMS

It is easily apparent that Portugal, small though it is, is a
place of physical diversity. Only the Beira provinces of the
center show a considerable number of common characteristics,
This has long been recognized by their being grouped together
as "the Beiras." No one knowing the Minho, Tras-os-Montes,
the Alentejo, and the Algarve, however, could think of them
except as places with distinct physical character, each unlike
the others.

CHAPTER 2

The Climate of Western Iberia

THE CONTRAST BETWEEN OCEANIC AND INTELUOR IBERIA

ANDFORMS of the northwest of Iberia are impor-
tant geographical phenomena in themselves, but
more important than slope and elevation per se is
the relation of these to the Atlantic Ocean and to
the climatic regions that result from it. These mountains are a
barrier to the storms from the northwest and west, and oceanic
influence strongly felt on the seaward slopes is absent in the
interior of the peninsula (Fig. 2). There is a great contrast
between the aspect of the north and west slopes and that of
the meseta lying in the rain-shadow of the crests. In describing
the transition from the meseta to the northern highlands and
shores one Spanish geographer said, "In crossing the mountains
of Leon, the beech and chestnut forests, the galleries of trees
along the rivers, the meadows, the arborescent ferns announce
one's departure from yellow, dusty Spain of the Castilian steppe
and the entry into northern, rainy, green Spain." l

1 L. Sole Sabaris and Llopis Llado, Espana, Geografia fisica, p, 270.

u. U.U.U.U.L.

o o o o o

CO CM 1 CD StQ CD

10 cri cvi CD O ro

So

^

Q

to
so

I

34

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

THE MESETA

The phrase "yellow, dusty Spain" recalls the scorching sun
of summer as well as the aridity which is equally characteristic
of the area. The meseta, denied the lenitive effects of the sea
by the barrier of mountains, is continental in its climate. That
is to say, there is a high annual temperature range between
the means of its hottest and coldest months (an average of
33 F for stations of the north meseta) and, more than this, the
diurnal range is also great. The temperature may drop to nearly
zero during some winter nights the mean of the minima for
the coldest month of the northern meseta is 12 F but the days
are mostly bright even in winter, for cloudiness is slight and
days with precipitation are few, averaging only eighty-five.
Even though snow is not uncommon, falling on an average of
fifteen days per year, it does not lie on the ground long, nor
does much fall. The total precipitation for the months of
December, January, and February is less than 4 inches (of
water), on the average, at the typical stations of Valladolicl and
Salamanca.

In summer, the sun blazes down with hardly a cloud to ob-
struct its heating of the land. Days may be over 100F (the
mean of the maxima for the hottest month is 99F), but nights
cool rapidly. The persistently clear skies, allowing both heat
in the daytime and counter-radiation at night, are not rain-
producers. During July and August, the two hottest months of
the year, precipitation, on the average, is one inch at both
Valladolid and Salamanca. Nor is precipitation high during any
month of the year. As the Gonzalez Quijano map shows, the
greater part of the northern meseta receives less than 20 inches
in an average year. There is reason for this area to be called
"yellow, dusty Spain."

OCEANIC IBEHIA

In strong contrast to the meseta is the area of the mountain
rim and the seaward slopes on the north and the northwest.
There the effect of the ocean reduces the extremes and elimi-

YEARLY PRECIPITATION OF THE
IBERIAN PENINSULA

I i Less than 500 mm = c. 20
f?T?;l 500 to 1000mm = c. 20"to c.39"
1000 to 1500 mm - c. 39"to c.59"
[500 to 2000mm * c. 59"toc.79"
2000 to 2500mm = c.79"toc.98"

rmrni 2500 to 2eoomm = c. 98" toc.no"

WBM 2800 and over = c.HO"and over

(AFTER GONZALEZ QUIJAWO)

Figure 6. Yearly Precipitation in the Iberian Peninsula

35

CLIMATE

nates drought, so that the two identifying characteristics of the
meseta are entirely lacking. The temperature range between
the mean of the coldest and the warmest months is moderate
(under 22 F on the average), but as the diurnal range is also
low, the absolute maximum and absolute minimum tempera-
tures fall within relatively narrow limits. The searing heat of
the interior is virtually unknown, as is the bitter cold of winter.
Snow is hardly ever seen except on the high mountains. Of
course, such boons carry their own deficiencies. The brilliant
skies of the meseta are infrequent. The greenness and mildness
of the Atlantic fringe is due to a high percentage of cloudiness
through most of the year. The air is moist in all months (the
yearly mean relative humidity of the city of Braga in the
verdant Minho Province of Portugal 78 per cent is higher
than that of the month when the relative humidity of Leon is
highest 77 per pent). Precipitation is persistent and copious.
Everywhere, for example, in Northwest Portugal the yearly
total is over 40 inches and a large part of the Portuguese Minho
receives between 40 and 80 inches. ( Compare Braga's 73 inches
with less than 20 inches received at Valladolid, about 200 miles
away, on approximately the same parallel of latitude.) The
mountain slopes record totals up to one hundred and some
crests over 120 inches. 2

SEASONAL DROUGHT

On the north coast and the northernmost part o the west
coast, where the winds are onshore throughout the year, rain-
fall is considerable during all months, but south of Cape
Finisterre a summer drought is recorded during the period of
the most northerly extension of the Azorean high. On the coast
of southent-Galicia the period of relative drought is almost two
months long and this increases as one goes southward into
Portugal. Actually the dry summer months of North Portugal

2 Orlando Rlbeiro, Portugal, p. 47. Rainfall increases upward on all
windward slopes presumably to the crests. None of these slopes is high
enough to show diminution upward.

36

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

and Galicia would not seem dry to an inhabitant of the interior
of the peninsula. For example, at Braga during July and August
there are, on the average, 1 4/10 inches and 1 inch respectively
of rainfall. Compare these figures with those for the wettest
months of Valladolid which record, on the average, 1 8/10
inches each. In other words, the two dry months of Braga re-
ceive nearly 2 1/2 inches of rain, whereas the two wettest
months of Valladolid show slightly more than 3 1/2 inches,
There is reason for Portuguese to refer fondly to the "green
Minho."

THE "MEDITERRANEAN" SOUTH OF PORTUGAL

Within Portugal itself there is another important contrast in
climate, that between the rainy, green north and the "Medi-
terranean" south.\ Whereas in the Minho the summer drought
represents a brief respite in a rainy year, for the extreme south
the rainy period represents an interlude in a relatively dry year.
The winter rainy season of the Algarve is scarcely longer than
the Minho dry season of summer. However, the transition be-
tween heavy rainfall and relative drought is not made as
abruptly from north to south as it is from west to east. The
transition from oceanic climate in the Portuguese Minho to
m^seta-type climate of Tras-os-Montes occurs in a short dis-
tance due to the mountains that separate the two provinces,
llie transition from oceanic, "Atlantic" climate on the north,
where the storm tracks dominate through most of the year, to
"Mediterranean" climate of the south, where there is a domi-
nance through several months of the Azorean high-pressure
area with subsident, calm, stable, dry air and clear skies, how-
ever, is a matter of latitude and takes place over a longer
distance.

3 This contrast is expressed in the title and the text of the charming
and perceptive book by Orlando Ribeiro, Portugal, o mediterrdneo e o
atldntico.

CLIMATIC STATIONS OF PORTUGAL

s^\ Temperature (in Fahrenheit)
dl Precipitation (in Inches)
Figures in parenthesis - Elevation in feet above sea level

Porto
(297')

Braga
(627')

Viana do Castelo
149')

Lisbon
1122')

Figueira da Foz
(23 1 )

Mirandela
(792 ( )

Faro
(46')

Figure 7. Climatic Stations of Portugal

38

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

CLIMATIC TRANSITION FROM NORTH TO SOUTH

The climatic transition from north to south in Portugal is
clearly shown by the statistical records of representative sta-
tions along the coast. Viana do Castelo, in the Minho, receives
61 inches of rainfall in a year and records two months with
less than 1 6/10 inches (40 millimeters). Porto, near the mouth
of the Douro River, receives 50 inches of rainfall and shows
less than three months with rainfall under 1 6/10 inches. From
Porto southward to Figueira da Foz there is a notable change.
Figueira receives only 24 inches of rainfall and has five months
with less than 1 6/10 inches each. Still farther to the south,
at Lisbon, the figures are approximately the same as those for
Figueira da Foz. At the extreme south, the Algarve is distinct
from the rest of Mediterranean Portugal, as mountains shelter
it on the north. It faces out over the sea toward Africa and its
climate is actually more like that of North Africa than it is, for
example, like that of Lisbon. Faro, the capital of the Algarve,
receives less than 16 inches of rainfall in a normal year and
records six months with less than 1 6/10 inches rainfall. On
the average, Algarvian stations receive less rainfall than the
average received by meseta stations of Spain.

MECHANISM OF WEATHER OVER THE PENINSULA

Through the year, the Iberian peninsula comes under the
influence of three meteorologic action centers: the Azorean
high, the North Atlantic low, and the action center within the
peninsula. The interior, the meseta, acts as a small continent
to produce seasonal effects peculiar to itself.

SUMMER CONDITIONS

During the summer, the Azorean high of the South Atlantic
extends to the north, covering the latitudes of most of the
peninsula at times even to the Bay of Biscay. At this season,
Mediterranean summer, with stable air and clear, warm, dry
days, blankets the south and west littorals up to southern

39

CLIMATE

Galicia. The interior of the peninsula, isolated from the sea by
mountains, is greatly heated, and becomes a low-pressure area
in the midst of the great area of high pressures around it.
Winds blow in toward the center of the low from all sides, but
when the low is particularly pronounced in the midsummer
months especially July and August little rain falls on the
meseta. The winds from the south and southeast have their
origin in dry Africa and absorb but little moisture in their tra-
verse of the Mediterranean. Winds from the southwest and
west, blowing in over relatively low and warm surfaces, are
increasingly heated as they penetrate into the peninsula, and
their moisture capacity is correspondingly increased. More
significant than this, however, is the fact that the summer
thermal low is relatively shallow. Above 10,000 feet the high
of upper latitudes extends southward over it and establishes a
condition of stability. During the rare periods when the Iberian
depression spreads and joins that of Morocco, there are searing
winds out of the east quarter, with temperatures well over
100F and with a relative humidity as low as 10 per cent. 4 Only
at the north and the extreme northwest do the inblowing winds
yield summer rainfalls as they rise steeply over the mountains
seeking the Iberian low; but rainfall occurs only on the wind-
ward side as the humid, oceanic air rises, cools, and condenses
moisture. Within the mountain barrier, the meseta continues
to be dry ( Fig. 2 ) , f or the descending air masses show decreas-
ing relative humidity.

WINTER CONDITIONS

In the winter, the Azorean high is reduced, and is replaced
in the latitudes of the peninsula by the track of North Atlantic
cyclones, which finally affect all of the peninsular peripheries
and bring the influence of the ocean in over the land. Since
from the end of November the temperatures of sea water are
at their maximum in comparison with those of the air above
them, conditions favor condensation. The humid masses of air

4 Orlando Ribeiro, Portugal, p. 44.

40

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

are carried landward by a series of cyclones, sometimes in a
chain that will last for days or even weeks without perceptible
break. Such warm-front rains come in the form of drizzles that
may be persistent for days, through the passage of the several
consecutive lows. Occasionally, there may be a fall in tempera-
ture, accompanied by quick showers, and then the dissipation
of the clouds marking the passage of a cold front. Such are
brief interludes. To this frontal precipitation is added, on the
westward slopes, orographic rainfall produced when the
humid masses are forced up the mountain slopes and snowfall
on the higher crests.

Again, as during the summer period, the meseta is anomalous,
for it is then linked with the great high-pressure area of Asia
and Central Europe. While the littorals of both Mediterranean
and Atlantic Iberia (and also the Pyrenean slopes) are rainy,
the interior is dry, clear, and cold. In fact, the high pressure
of the interior increases the precipitation on the peripheries,
for it often blocks the entry of cyclones. At times these stagnate
at the edges, bringing large amounts of rainfall to the coasts
and snow on the mountains. 5

EQUINOCTIAL CONDITIONS

The rainfall of the interior differs seasonally from that of the
border regions. It is dominantly that of spring and fall, taking
place in the intermediate periods of change from one pro-
nounced anomalous pressure condition to its opposite anomaly.
These equinoctial seasons are times of unstable conditions and
capricious weather, when one should be prepared for a beauti-
ful, warm day with temperatures in the eighties to be followed
by a freeze. With the onset of spring, cyclonic disturbances do
not have the frequency, regularity, or duration of those of

5 This is particularly notable in the Bay of Biscay. See Ecluardo Hcs-
singer, "La Distribucion estacional de las precipitaciones en la peninsula
Iberica y sus causas" (trans, from German by Valentin Masachs Alavc-
dra), Estudios Geogrdficos, X, No. 34 (Feb., 1949), 124.

41

CLIMATE

winter, and they are interspersed with periods of fine and in-
creasingly warm weather. They may be, however, periods of
hazard for the farmer, because of unpredictability. Due to in-
creasing heating of the land in March, the high of the interior
is being dissipated and the low of the Mediterranean broadens,
increasing the flow of air into the meseta. Rainfall increases
there until May, when, with the greatly increased warmth of
the surface, frequent thundershowers make this the month of
maximum rainfall. By July, the Azorean high has spread over
the west coast, bringing stable air and replacing the track of
the North Atlantic cyclones. Autumn conditions are roughly
comparable, in reverse, to those of spring. It is a season of
unstable air, of unpredictability, and a secondary maximum of
rainfall is recorded then for the meseta.

SEASONAL TEMPERATURES

Throughout the year, temperatures are closely relative to
oceanic exposure. Summer isotherms are roughly parallel to the
ocean and closely spaced. Temperatures rise sharply inward
to a maximum near the center of the meseta. The reverse is
essentially true in winter, but not with the same degree of
nicety; temperatures reach their minimum near the center of
the peninsula, the west coast, with summer temperatures
roughly homogeneous from the southern Alentejo to the
Minho, is somewhat differentiated in winter by the slightly
lower temperatures of the Minho as compared with those of
the south (Fig. 5).

The contrasts described in this chapter, first, between the

The Algarve, isolated by the mountains of Monchique and Caldeirao,
is distinct. It is largely untouched by even such cold as may affect the
Alentejo in winter. However, an occasional outbreak of cold air may take
place when a deep high spreads westward from the interior. This
occurred in the winter of 1953-1954, and again in 1955-1956, bringing
snow to most of the littoral of Portugal and freezing weather even to the
Algarve. Such cold causes great distress, as it happens rarely and there is
no preparation for it.

42

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

rainy northwest periphery and the meseta, that is, between
Atlantic and continental climates, and second, between the
Atlantic northwest and Mediterranean South Portugal, will be
made even more obvious in the chapter on vegetation. 7

7 The following, in addition to the works cited above, have been most
useful in the study of climate: Pedro M. Gonzalez Quijano, Mapa Pluvio-
metrico de Espana, text and map of nine sheets; Hessinger, op. cit., 59-
128; Wilhelm Semmelhack, "Beitrage zur Klimatographie von Nordspau-
ien und Portugal," "Die Niederschlagsverhaltnisse," Archiv dcr Deut-
schen Seewarte, XXXIII, No. 2 (Hamburg, 1910), pp. 1-90; "Nieder-
schlagskarte der Iberischen Halbinsel," Annalen der Hydro graphic, LX
(1932), 28-32, and map; "Temperaturkarten der Iberischen Halbinsel,"
ibid., pp. 327-333, with tables and maps; O Clima de Portugal especially
Pts. I-V (1942-1946); H. Amorim Ferreira, Distribuiqao da chuva no
territorio do continente Portugites, text of 14 pp. and map; E. Alt,
Klimakunde von Mittel-und-Siideiiropa, Vol. Ill, Pt. M, Handbuch der
Klimatologie, ed. Koppen and R. Geiger.

CHAPTER 3

The Soils of Northern
and Western Iberia

J 1
5

N 1927 a General Map of the Soils of Europe was
published, giving the results of investigations made
under the auspices of the International Society of Soil
Science. 1 It is particularly useful for this study as its
soils regions are effectively simplified and allow a quick com-
prehension of the relations between regions of soils, climate,
and vegetation in northwestern Europe (See Fig. 8 and com-
pare with Figs. 2, 6, 7, and 9).

CONTRASTS IN SOILS BETWEEN THE OCEANIC BORDER
AND THE Meseta

One is struck by the great stretch of "moderately podsolised
forest soils" 2 running from interior Asia, south of 60 latitude,

1 General Map of the Soils of Europe, 1927, by the Sub-Commission
for the European Soil Map of the Fifth Commission of the International
Society of Soil Science, Chairman, H, Stremme, Danzig. German text
published in Danzig, 1927. Translation by Dr. W. G. Ogg, 1929.

2 A podsol is a soil developed in cool, moist climates under forest
vegetation, commonly coniferous. It is leached in its upper layers and is

Figure 8. Soil Regions of Western Europe (Legend on Opposite Page)

45

SOIL REGIONS OF WESTERN EUROPE
|V*| GRAY AND BROWN DESERT STEPPE SOIL

I I "BROWN" FOREST SOILS, SLIGHTLY PODSOLIZED

|| | || PODSOLIZED FOREST SOILS (MODERATE)

I' I 'I RAW HUMUS IN THE REGION OF THE FOREST SOILS

I""-"" | MOORS MORE THAN 40% OF THE AREA IN THE REGION OF THE
^_^ FOREST SOILS

KX/I LIGHT CHESTNUT- COLORED DRY FOREST SOILS

K\1 RED EARTH

| J RENDZINA, DEGRADED RENDZINA AND POOSOLIZED FOREST SOILS

|~-~| SALINE SOILS

SKELETON SOILS AND SOILS RICH IN SKELETAL MATERIAL:
l- ; !-:-1 WITH PODSOLIZED SOILS IN HIGH MOUNTAINS, INCL. ICE
|OpQ| WITH RED EARTH AND LIGHT CHESTNUT- COLOR ED SOILS
| a Op | WITH BROWN FOREST SOILS AND RED EARTH

9BB BROWN FOREST SOIL, LIGHT CHESTNUT- COLORED DRY FOREST SOIL,

RICH IN SKELETAL MATERIAL
|* *[ MEADOW SOIL AND SOIL OFRIVER MARSHES

(AFTER INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF SOIL SCIENCE)

along the coasts of the Baltic and North seas (not including the
peninsula of Jutland), through northern and western France,
the Pyrenees, the Cantabrians, Galicia, and the Minho Province
of northwest Portugal. Only the western portion of this area
is shown in Figure 8. To the south of the Minho Province a

usually strongly acid. Highly siliceous materials are most susceptible to
podsolization. The soil has a characteristic grayish-white color. Soils and
Men, Yearbook of the United States Department of Agriculture, 1938,
pp. 972, 1020.

46

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

wide band of these soils extends along the humid interior up-
land of Portugal, reaching approximately to the Tejo River,
but along the Atlantic Coast the Douro River marks its south-
ern limit. This soils area can be equated with the area of
oceanic influence, abundant rainfall, relatively mild tempera-
tures, and mixed-forest vegetation.

In sharp contrast are the soils of the meseta, lying to the
lee of the northern and northwestern mountains of Iberia,
where wide areas are covered with brown forest soils or bright
chestnut-colored dry forest soils, bespeaking the drought of the
interior.

CLASSIFICATION BY DEL VILLAH

One of the contributors to the map of 1927 was Emilio H.
del Villar, who presumably was responsible for the Iberian
area. After that publication, however, he continued his work
and in 1937 published a volume wholly devoted to the soils
of the Iberian Peninsula/' In this text and its accompanying
map he makes far more detailed specifications for the soils
regions. In fact, the amount of detail makes this map less use-
ful than the earlier, more generalized map of 1927. The text,
however, is helpful, even though at first glance it seems to
contradict his findings as published in the report of 1927. For
example, the great area, mentioned above, of "moderately
podsolized forest soils" is broken up into subareas, in terms of
parent materials. The assumption is that here the parent ma-
terials were more important in the ultimate nature of the soils
than was climate, 4 Those developed from granites are different
from those derived from Silurian schists. Both of these are in
separate categories from the soils derived from the calcareous
Mesozoic materials.

3

Emilio H. del Villar, Los Suelos de la "Peninsula Lnso-lberica.
4 Ibid., p. 67.

47

SOILS

OCEANIC AREA

From the Pyrenees to S. Vicente, thirty miles beyond San-
tander, is an almost solid zone of the "general occurrence of
humid siallitic soils." From S. Vicente to Oviedo is an area
where most of the soils are derived from calcareous materials.
To the south of this zone, and intermingling with it, are "humid
siallitic soils." To the west of Oviedo is a great zone of "the
general occurrence of the acid-humic type soils/' which extends
through Galicia, North Portugal and along the humid highland
interior of the Bejras to the TejoJUyer. In spite of Del Vfllar's
differentiation according to parent materials, the great soil
areas indicate their intimate association with climate. Even the
area of soils derived from calcareous rocks is now broadly
similar to its neighboring areas, for under the climatic condi-
tions of the rainy lowland the soils have been largely decalci-
fied. 5 In general, all of these soils can be associated with
Marbut's pedalfers. 6 They are acid in reaction, but not to the
degree that would inhibit a healthy forest growth. 7

THE INTERIOR

Within the angle of the northern and western mountains
appears a zone of "intermediate siallitic soils." Farther inland
begins the great zone of "xero-siallitic soils," which broadens
southward. In the interior areas the pedalfers become less and

5 Ibid., p. 199.

6 Ibid., p. 32. Marbut, former chief of the United States Soil Survey,
distinguished between two great soil groups in terms of the accumulation
of carbonate of calcium or the lack of such accumulation. The first he
named "pedocals," using the Greek pedo (ground) plus Latin calcis or
calx (lime). They are associated with dry or relatively dry areas. For the
other great group he coined the name "pedalfer," using the same Greek
prefix but adding the first two letters from alumen and ferrum, the Latin
words for aluminum and iron, respectively. The pedalfers usually show
not only the lack of a zone of lime accumulation but the positive accumu-
lation of iron and aluminum compounds. They are to be associated with
humid areas. See Soils and Men, Yearbook of Agriculture, USDA, 1938,
p. 982.

7 H. Gaussen, "Le Milieu physique et la foret au Portugal," Revue
Geographique des Pyrenees et du Sud-Ouest, XI, Nos. 3-4 (1940), 240.

48

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

less acid as the elevations decrease and the land is drier, toward
the Iberian interior. At Zamora on the west, and to the north
of Burgos, begin the areas of pedocals that cover most of
eastern Spain and most of the area to the south of the Sierra
Morena.

"AGROPEDIC" SOILS

A large proportion of the acid-humic soils of the northwest
occur at present in what Del Villar calls the "agropedic phase."
The differences between them depend upon cultivation, im-
provement, and manuring. The Portuguese say that these soils
are man-made. This situation seems to be a feature of areas
where farming practices inherited from northern and Central
Europe have been common since remote ages. Del Villar says:

... the acid-humic soils are commonly considered poor; but it is
necessary to qualify and adjust this judgment. . . . within this acid-
humic region there are areas of agricultural production generally
more intensive than that of the dry lands of the peninsula . , . soils
of the same type dominate the greater part of the British Isles,
Holland, North Germany, and Denmark, countries which show the
most intensive agricultural production in Europe. 8

The intensity of cultivation, especially in North Portugal, must
come as a surprise to anyone seeing it for the first time. It
certainly was surprising for one American who previously knew
the somewhat comparable climatic environment of western
British Columbia, where population is indeed sparse. To see
the Minho Province of northwest Portugal, with a density of
rural population as great as virtually any in Europe, is a revela-
tion as to the capacity of a determined and ancient farming
society. However, determination and skill cannot compensate
completely for untoward natural conditions. That excessive
rainfall and leaching are detrimental to the soils may be indi-
cated by the use of the adjective galega, (referring to Galician
areas where rainfall figures are especially high ) in the common

8 Del Villar, Suelos de la Peninsula, p. 66.

49

SOILS

language of the Portuguese peasant. A soil thus described is
light and infertile. 9

SOILS OF TRAS-OS-MONTES

The province of Tras-os-Montes lies east of the mountain
barrier that limits the Minho Province. It is politically Portu-
guese because of its geologic and tectonic history, which has
partially isolated it from Spain and has allowed more conven-
ient communications with the west. In other ways it is more
Spanish than Portuguese. Its soils have more the quality of
those of Leon than those of the Minho. In the north of Tras-os-
Montes and through much of the Spanish province of Leon are
found "intermediate siallitic soils" (according to the Del Villar
terminology), 10 and in this relatively dry area, parent-material
differences are strongly reflected in the soils. The hard mica
schists do not break down readily, and because of this fact
there are large areas of shallow and essentially rocky soils 1X that
support only a jneagre heath. Other schists, somewhat more
friable, break down more readily, the reflection of which can
be seen in the easily established forest growth. 12 Southern Tras-
os-Montes is characterized by the "general occurrence of xero-
siallitic soils/' that is, soils with neutral reaction and low
organic content, which develop under conditions of relative
dryness and from siliceous parent materials. They cover not
only southern Tras-os-Montes but also an enormous area of the

9 J. Leite de Vasconcellos, Origem historica e formagao do povo
Portugues, p. 15.

10 Del Villar, Suelos de la Peninsula, III. He says that these are approxi-
mately the braunerde of Ramann, and Robinson calls them brown forest
soils. According to the classification in the United States they would be
listed as the most acid of the "non-calcareous pedocals" or "non-calcic
brown soils." This is according to the information supplied by Raymond
E. Storie, Department of Soils, University of California, Berkeley, Cali-
fornia. Mr. Storie has recently spent several months in areas of the
western Mediterranean studying soils and their distribution.

11 Del Villar calls them "oropedic," so-named because they appear most
frequently in mountains. In such soils the A horizon lies directly upon the
C horizon, or parent material. Del Villar, Suelos de la Peninsula, p. 33.

12 Gaussen, loc. cit.

50

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

interior of Spain (the provinces of Salamanca, Caceres, and
most of New Castile, east to Ciudad Real), as well as most of
the Alentejo in Portugal.

Terra Rossa SOILS AND DUNES

There are two other relatively dry areas of Portugal where
soils reflect the parent material. These appear distinct on the
Del Villar map by reason of their calcareous rock. This is a
situation very different from that of the calcareous area of the
humid north, to the east of Oviedo, where the lime is effec-
tively leached. The larger of the two areas is clearly delimited
on the east by the Lisbon-Tomar-Coimbra-Espinho line. Domi-
nant within the region are terra rossa soils. This term is com-
monly used by European pedologists to describe a calcareous
soil stained red by iron oxides, which is favored in development
by the Mediterranean climate with its pronounced wet and dry
seasons. The second area of terra rossa soils is that lying to the
north of the Algarvian littoral. Under Algarvian rainfall con-
ditions the limestone is not decalcified, and in many places the
parent material is exposed at the surface, loose material on top
being carried away as fast as it appears. Limestone rock and
terra rossa soils reach to the sea in the western half of the
southern coast.

Against the northern region of limestone lies the great
quadrilateral area of dunes, and the eastern half of the Algar-
vian coast is likewise a distinct area of sand deposit. Such areas
are shown on the Del Villar map as being of "sandy-skeletal
coastal soils."

ESSENTIAL SIMILARITY BETWEEN STREMME
AND DEL VILLAR CLASSIFICATIONS

In spite of the differences between subareas indicated by
Del Villar, the fact remains that from the French border at the
western end of the Pyrenees to central Portugal there is a
great, unbroken stretch of either "humid siallitic" soils or of

51

SOILS

those pertaining to the series next to it in order of acidity, the
"acid-humic" soils. According to the United States' classifica-
tion, all would fall into the category of moderately podsolized
soils, which brings us back, essentially, to the classification of
Stremme. 13 Whichever classification or map is used, the general
fact emerges that the great soils areas are in accord with the
regions of climate of northern and western Iberia. The humid
peripheries are clearly set apart, in soil types, from the dry
interior and the south of the peninsula.

ia For Portugal only, a useful map of soils has been elaborated and
published under the direction of Luis Bramao, "Carta dos Solos de
Portugal," Estacao Agronomica Nacional, Direccao Geral dos Services
Agricolas. It is not serviceable for this chapter, as it does not show
extensions of the soils regions beyond the political limits of Portugal.

CHAPTER 4

Vegetation Regions of Northern
and Western Iberia

REGIONS OF WESTERN EUROPE

?AJWW

GREAT VEGETATION zone, essentially homogene-
ous in character, stretches from Central Europe to
Portugal (Fig. 9). Troll calls this the Holly Region.
Nearest the ocean, it is the first of his three divisions
of the forests of Western Europe. 1 The second is the Beech
Region, some of whose species are found mixed with those of
the Holly Region in Iberia; the third, and farthest from the
ocean, is the Oak Region, with which we shall not be con-
cerned, as it does not extend into the peninsula.

The Holly Region, an area of mild winters and summers and
with rainfall in all seasons of the year, includes northwestern
Iberia on the west, and northern and central Germany on the
east. Besides the eponymous holly (Ilex aqiiifolitim) it is char-
acterized by common gorse (Ulex europaeus), several of the
heathers (especially Erica tetralix and E. drier ea), and the
primrose (Primula acaulis). Troll's Beech Region lies to the

1 Karl Troll, "Ozeanische Ziige im Pflanzenkleid Mitteleuropas," Freie
Wege Vergleichender Erdkunde, pp. 307-325.

53

VEGETATION REGIONS

east and south of the Holly Region, but a large number of its
species occur also in the latter and accompany it westward into
humid Iberia. Some of these are: English oak (Quercus robur,
which replaces beech in Galicia and Portugal), elm, ash, pop-
lar, black alder, plane, birch (only in the extreme north of
Portugal in the mountains), yew, sweet-gale (Myrica gale),
foxgloves, the common fern, brambles, broom (Sarothamnus
scoparius), wild plum (Prunus spinosa), hawthorne, ivy, and
wild pear (Pyrus commttnis).

VEGETATION CONTRASTS BETWEEN HUMID IBERIA
AND THE Meseta 2

The striking difference in floristic composition and physi-
ognomy of the vegetation between the humid Iberian border
and the meseta, in the lee of the mountains in interior Iberia,
is immediately apparent. None of the plants given above as
typical of the Holly Region can tolerate the climatic conditions
of the meseta. The same is true of other plants of Central and
Western Europe such as the heather (Calluna vulgaris) and
the brake (Pteris aquilina). The maritime pine (Finns mari-
tima} and the edible European chestnut (Castanea sativa) of
the northwest periphery of Iberia cannot tolerate the meseta

2 With regard to the vegetation of Portugal I am chiefly indebted to
J. Daveau, "Geographic botanique du Portugal." 1. "La Flore Httorale du
Portugal/* Boletim Sociedade Broteriana, XIV (1897), 3-54. 2. "La
Flore des plaines et collines voisines du littoral," ibid., XIX (1902), 3-
140. 3. "Les Stations de la zone des plaines et collines/' ibid., XXI
(1904-1905), 16-85.

Also helpful has been H. Gaussen, "Le Milieu physique et la foret
au Portugal/* Revue Geographique des Pyrenees et du Sud-Ouest, XI,
Nos. 3-4 (1940), 219-267, and M. Willkomm, "As Regioes botanicas de
Portugal," trans, from Grundzuge der Pflanzenverbreitung auf der lloeri-
schen Halbinsel (Die Vegetation der Erde, Vol. I) in Boletim da
Sociedade Broteriana, XVII (Coimbra, 1900), 89-154; and in this
chapter, as in so many others, Hermann Lautensach, especially in his
1932 work on Portugal, "Das Land als Ganzes/' Petermanns Mitteilun-
gen, No. 213 (Gotha, 1932), as well as his "A Individualidade geografica
de Portugal no conjunto da Peninsula Iberica/' Boletim da sociedade de
geografia de Lisboa, XLIX (1931), 362-409.

54

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

Figure 9. Vegetation Zones of Europe

because of its drought. The cultivated olive, almond, and fig,
Mediterranean plants that are grown in North Portugal, are
excluded by winter cold. Although it is true that many of the
species of the Beech Region are found not only in the Holly
Region, but also on the meseta, in the latter area they form a
negligible part of the plant community, whereas in the former
the individuals are more numerous, show exceptional growth
and there reach their southwestern distributional extreme in
Europe. On the contrary, some species find suitable conditions
for existence on the meseta but cannot tolerate the dampness
of the extreme north and northwest. Perhaps the most common
example is that of the holm oak (Q. ilex).

SUBDIVISIONS OF HUMID IBERIA

The humid outer edges of Iberia can be subdivided into a
northern zone and a western zone. The first includes all of
Galicia except for a narrow area of the west coast below the

55

VEGETATION" REGIONS

latitude of Santiago de Compostela. The second is essentially
North Portugal but with an extension along the coast that in-
cludes the rias of Vigo, Pontevedra, and Arosa of Galicia. The
western zone is distinct from the northern zone for two obvious
reasons. In the first place, beech is not found in the western
zone nor is birch (Betula sp.), except in remote, high moun-
tains. Secondly, many of the Mediterranean species follow the
west coast up into southern Galicia, but most of them are not
to be found in the northern zone. Willkomm recognized the
western zone as being one of special character because of the
surprising combination of plants from diverse regions which
thrive there. To quote him:

. . . this mixture of cultivated plants of south and central Europe
is mostly in the north of Portugal and west Galicia, which gives to
the picturesque valleys of this mountainous region an enchanting
aspect, for there one sees trees of both pip and stone fruits, walnuts
and chestnuts at the side of and mixed with figs, almonds, olives,
oranges, vines, and maize fields next to fields of rye and meadows
of trefoil. . . . one finds araucarias, eucalyptus . . . willows, poplars,
elms, ashes, lindens . . . associated with ornamental trees of North
America, Cape of Good Hope, Japan and China . . . 3

It is to be noted that the division of Willkomm sets off political
Portugal from Galicia to the north, with the exception of the
narrow coastal strip, including the rias above-mentioned.

The change between the two vegetational areas results es-
pecially from the difference in rainfall, in total amount as well
as seasonal distribution. The extreme northwest of Galicia is a
region of rainfall in all months of the year and its total is the
highest of any Iberian littoral, whereas the North Portuguese
area, plus the extension into southwest Galicia, has less rainfall
in total and a summer drought period (Fig. 7). The northern
limit of intensive olive, grape, and citrus cultivation occurs at
approximately this division line, the line of Santiago-Orense.

The North Portuguese area, i.e. Willkomm's Western Zone
of Humid Iberia, in its floristic composition and appearance, is

3 Willkomm, "As Regioes botanicas . . . ," p. 130.

56

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

similar to northwest Europe. The maritime pine, the principal
species on the predominantly siliceous soils, is found 011 the
western slopes of the mountains to an elevation of forty-six
hundred feet. Along the open river valleys (i.e. especially the
Mondego and Tejo valleys) it reaches into the interior. Even
as far south as the valley of the Tejo it is the dominant tree.
Associated with it, but more restricted in range extending less
far into the western littoral and not reaching to the same eleva-
tions on the mountain sides is the oak common to northwest-
ern Europe, Quercus robur, which is largely replaced above
thirteen hundred feet elevation by the Pyrenees oak (Q. toza).
Both oaks are almost entirely strange to the region south of
the Tejo. This is also true of gorse (Ulex europaeus), Armeria
maritima, A. elongata and Rhododendron baeticum, which are
important members of the community. Endemics are few.

TRANSITION AREA OF MIDDLE PORTUGAL

Within Portugal itself, other vegetational subdivisions can
be recognized. The area north of the Mondego River differs
greatly from that south of the Tejo River. Between the two
rivers is an area of transition, particularly marked on the coastal
fringe. The sharp differences in floristic composition between
the areas are due fundamentally to climate. It is in these lati-
tudes that there are considerable contrasts in rainfall and in
the length of the summer drought. From north to south there
is a diminution in total rainfall and an increase in the period
of drought, the combination of which reaches a critical point
at approximately the mouth of the Mondego River. The yearly
total of rainfall at this point is only half of that at the mouth
of the Douro River (approximately 24 inches compared to 50
inches). The summer drought period lasts almost five months
at the mouth of the Mondego River as compared to less than
three months at the mouth of the Douro River. 4 It may be
added that drought conditions are accentuated toward the
south by an increasing rate of evaporation.

4 O Clima de Portugal, Pts. V, VI.

57

VEGETATION REGIONS

This area is strongly affected by the seasonal alternation be-
tween the periods of dominance of North Atlantic cyclones,
with rainfall, and of South Atlantic high pressures, with subsi-
dent, stable air and drought. Thus while one might expect a
transition in vegetational complex from that of the north, an
edaphic factor, actually, is responsible for the abruptness of
the change. The Mondego River marks the meeting of the
siliceous rocks of the north with the calcareous materials on the
seaward fringe of Portuguese Estremadura, lying between the
Mondego and Tejo rivers. A great number of the northwest
European plants of northern Portugal are siliceous and cannot
tolerate, or tolerate poorly, the limy soils of western Estrema-
dura. Most of the species limited to North Portugal have their
southern coastal limit to the north of the Mondego.

In this area there is nearly a balance, in terms of numbers,
between the species of northwestern Europe and those of the
Mediterranean region. Thirty-eight per cent of the species are
those of northwestern Europe ( compared to 58 per cent in the
area north of the Mondego River), and 42 per cent belong to
the Mediterranean. In contrast to the north, in this middle area
Iberian species have importance, and there is a greater degree
of endemism. African (Mauritanian) species are almost four
times as numerous (85 to 22). Maritime pine is far less im-
portant, due both to lower rainfall and to the calcareous soils.
The English oak (Q. robur), its northern companion, is found
in the transition area also, but both are largely restricted to
the wetter slopes and siliceous soils, whereas the Portuguese
oak (Q. lusitanica) , a pronounced calciphyte, grows vigorously.
This tree belongs quite properly in a transition area, for it is
intermediate in appearance and morphology as compared to
the other Portuguese oaks, deciduous, but with a tendency
toward permanence of its leaves. Both the wild and the culti-
vated olive grow in the transition area, although on the cal-
careous soils they appear more as spiny bushes than as trees.
Among the bushy plants, Quercus coccifera and Q. humilis are
common, although somewhat exclusive of each other. Quercus
humilis requires siliceous soils, whereas Q. coccifera, although

58

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

preferring siliceous, can tolerate calcareous soils. The genus
Cistus is far more important here than in the area of the north
(thirty species compared to nine) and Genista even more so
(fifty species as compared to ten), The same relation exists
with regard to certain members of the mint family ( Labiatae ) .
The genera Phlomis and Sideritis, common in the transition
area, do not appear at all north of the Mondego. Of thirteen
species of Teucrium in Portugal, only one appears in the north,
and of twenty species of Thijmus only two are found there.

SOUTHERN PORTUGAL

Portugal south of the Tejo River is quite a different floristic
area. The species common to northwest Europe amount to less
than one-third of the total, whereas Mediterranean species are
the most numerous of all. While a few Iberian species are com-
mon and there is a liberal admixture of Algerian and Moroccan
species, there is also an abundance of endemics. Maritime pine
extends southward only to the Setiibal Peninsula, as it cannot
tolerate the high summer temperatures and relatively low rain-
fall of the Alentejo. It is replaced, in the western Alentejo, by
the Italian stone pine (Finns pinea), which grows well on the
quartzite sands of the region. However, the Alentejo in general
is not a pine region. The dominant trees of the large eastern
section are the cork and holm oaks (Quercus suber and Q. ilex
respectively). Olives grow well, both the cultivated and, on
the calcareous "islands," the wild olive. In large areas bushes
are dominant, often to the complete exclusion of trees. Es-
pecially common is the gum cistus (Cistus ladaniferus) ,
Genista $pp>, and Stauracanthus sp. Important also are Kermes
oak (Quercus coccifera], Q. humilis, Halimium sp., various
Ulexes and Pterospartum sp. The dwarf Mediterranean palm
(Chamaerops humilis) and carob (Ceratonia siliqua), with
their Portuguese center in the Algarve, reach their northern
limit just to the south of the Tejo River in the Setiibal Peninsula.

59

VEGETATION REGIONS

THE EFFECT OF MAN UPON VEGETATION

It is difficult, at best, to establish vegetation areas where
complex mixing of species occurs. This is made more difficult
through alteration by man. For at least three thousand years
the nature and the extent of forests has been under attack. The
results of this pressure are difficult to determine, but there can
be no doubt that extensive changes have taken place. For
example, in the western Minho the forest ordinarily reaches to
no more than about eighteen hundred feet elevation. There is
no evident pedologic or climatic reason why the forests do not
extend to the summits of the mountains. As can be readily seen
from present practices, the need for fuels, fertilizers ( especially
for the species of the nitrogen-fixing Ulex), and pastures has
led to the destruction of trees and their consequent replace-
ment by shrubby vegetation and weeds. It has also added to
the erosion of the upper mountain slopes. Nevertheless, what-
ever changes have been made by man, it may be safely assumed
that the broad vegetational distinctions between the humid
northwest and the interior, and those between the area with the
Central European complex and the region with the Mediter-
ranean complex, exist in response to environmental conditions.

Perhaps no reader will be surprised at the close coincidence
between the areas of landforms, climate, soils, and vegetation
that has been indicated in this and in previous chapters, but
it will do no harm to emphasize the fact again, as it has decisive
bearing upon the differences between culture regions in this
part of the peninsula, the subject now to be considered.

CHAPTER 5

Prehistoric Immigrants into Iberia

PALEOLITHIC HUNTERS OF THE NORTH

OMO SAPIENS appeared in Iberia in that part of
the Old Stone Age known as the Upper Paleolithic.
He was a hunter, and in Spain as well as in southern
France left evidence of his genius as an artist. Such
men came to Iberia from Southern France prior to 10,000 B.C., 1
entering through the low passageway between the shore and
the west end of the Pyrenees. Following the slopes of the
Cantabrian Mountains, they went westward at least as far as
Asturias. For this there is direct supporting evidence. It can
hardly be doubted that they knew also the country beyond.
They may, indeed, have entered and hunted along the Medi-
terranean shores of Spain as well, for the wall paintings of the
eastern provinces from Lerida to Almeria have been attributed
to them.

However, this credit now seems undeserved, in the light of
the paucity of apparel shown in the pictures and also by the
appearance of the dog, apparently as a companion to the men. 2

1 Luis Pericot Garcia, La Espana primitiva, p. 111.

2 Julio Caro Baroja, Los Pueblos del Norte de la Peninsula Iberica, p. 28.

61

PREHISTORIC IMMIGRANTS

The hunters of the Paleolithic lived in the late Glacial Period,
whereas the semi-nudity of the figures depicted in the paintings
of northeastern Spain does not suggest such a climate but
rather that of a subsequent, wanner period of time. The ap-
pearance of the dog is also disconcerting to the enthusiasts for
the Paleolithic identification of these people. It is generally
agreed that the dog's domestication took place in the Epipaleo-
lithic Period, that is, in the epilogue to the Paleolithic, when
the climate was warmer due to the recession of the ice sheets
and when a new type of culture had succeeded that of the
brilliant hunters. Nevertheless, it cannot be doubted that the
Upper Paleolithic hunters-and-artists ranged broadly across the
peninsula at times, for their paintings ( clearly of the same type
as those of the great Cantabrian center of their art) are found
in the center of the peninsula, as well as in the province of
Malaga in the south. The evidence, however, suggests that their
numbers were small beyond Cantabria.

CAPSIAN CULTURE OF THE SOUTH AND Meseta CULTURE

While the hunters-and-artists of the Upper Paleolithic Period
were living in the north, Capsian culture, 3 of a distinctly differ-
ent basis and coming from Africa, spread into Mediterranean
Spain. Between the two culture regions there was a "cultural
abyss," according to Mendes Correa. 4 His expression is a good
one if one keeps in mind that it indicates the existence of an
intervening culture of a lower type, but it does not mean that
the territory was uninhabited. People were living on the meseta
(witness the traces of Magdalenian cave art in the provinces
of Madrid and Guadalajara) 5 even though population was
sparse. There is indisputable evidence that the meseta has been
but thinly settled from as long ago as the middle of the second

3 Pedro Bosch Gimpera, "Los Iberos," Cuadernos de Historia de
Espana, IX, 7.

4 A. A. Mendes Correa, "A Lusit&nia pre-romana," Historia de Portu-
gal I, 105.

5 Pericot Garcia, La Espana primitiva, p. 68.

62

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

millenium B.C. to the present," and there is no reason to believe
that earlier inhabitants either were more numerous or were
lacking. It is reasonable to assume that the ancient ways of the
Lower Paleolithic Period were continued by a thinly spread
population, except where thrusts were made into the interior
by the peoples of more advanced cultures from the northern
and the Mediterranean fringes. This was the case in the west of
the peninsula, where even such thrusts as those of the hunters
may have been lacking. This land-end area was largely unaf-
fected by changes taking place elsewhere in the peninsula. The
record of the Upper Paleolithic is scanty; in Portugal there is
very little to be so identified. Techniques of the Lower Paleo-
lithic continued there, while migrants from northern and
Central Europe and from Africa were bringing Upper Paleo-
lithic techniques into the northeast and the southeast of present
Spain, 7

POST-PALEOLITHIC CULTURES

It was toward the end of the Paleolithic Period that the west
was drawn into a larger Iberian culture area by an intrusive
ethnic wave of southern origin.

MUGE

The evidence for this change is found at Muge, a site on the
Tejo River about thirty miles northeast of Lisbon, where large
shell mounds of the transition stage between the Old and the
New Stone ages have been excavated and studied. The skele-
tons revealed are those of men of short stature and long heads,
very similar to those of the Natufians of Mount Carmel and
also closely similar to those of the Carthaginians, Libyans, and

G Juan Maluquer de Motes, "Los Pueblos de la Espana celtica,"
Historia de Espana, Tomo I, Vol. Ill, Pt. 1, 10.

7 Mendes Correa, "A Lusitania pre-romana," Historia de Portugal, I,
104.

63

PREHISTORIC IMMIGRANTS

Phoenicians." This offshoot of a culture area stretching from
western Asia across north Africa came into Iberia at the end
of the Glacial Period, when modern climatic conditions were
being established. Magdalenian hunters were either withdraw-
ing northward or were being eliminated, due to the lack of the
game upon which they had fed. 9 At Muge, Epipaleolithic
people lived within reach of the tide, where their food was to
be had/ making their characteristic small geometric flints, un-
til they were overwhelmed by subsequent migrants. There is
no satisfactory agreement as to how this elimination took place.
Guiart 11 believes that the Muge people were pushed to the
north, to become part of the stock of the present province of
Beira. Mendes Correa believes that it was a north European
stock that eliminated or absorbed them. 12

ASTURIAN

In northern Iberia at approximately the time of the pros-
perity at Muge another Epipaleolithic group, the Asturian,
dominated a narrow coastal band fronting on the Atlantic from
Bayonne, in southwest France, to the area at the mouth of the

8 Jules Guiart, "Anthropologie des populations dolichocephales de
FEurope Meridionale et de TAfrique Septentrionale," Congresso do
Mundo Portugues, XVII, 374.

9 Mendes Correa, "A Lusitania pre-romana," Historia de Portugal, I,
109.

10 The Lutraria compresa upon which they subsisted is not found
beyond tidal range. As the tide now does not reach within twenty miles
of this area, it is obvious that there has been a change. Perhaps the land
has risen in the ten thousand years since the culture flourished. Ibid., p.
107, Julio Martinez Santa-Olalla (Esquema paletnologico de la Peninsula
Hispdnica, p. 48) would shorten the time span to from six thousand to
eight thousand years. Or perhaps sedimentation has altered the area
in such fashion that the water is now fresh. See J. Carrington da Costa,
"Evolucao do meio geografico na Pre-historia de Portugal," Congresso do
Mundo Portugues^ I, 50.

11 Guiart, "Anthropologie des populations dolichocephales," Congresso
do Mundo Portugues, XVII, 384.

12 Mendes Correa, "A Lusitania pre-romana," Historia de Portugal, I,
139.

64

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

Douro River in Portugal. 13 These Asturians found their living
along the sea-edge by prying shellfish from the rocks with
hand-axes, made by chipping the ends of water-worn cobbles.
That they were not the same people as those of Muge is evi-
dent from the fact that at Muge the hand-axes of the Asturians
were lacking. Nor were they Magdalenians, at least not those
of the great hunting and painting stage. They may have repre-
sented a pauperized remnant of Magdalenians, or they may
have represented a continuing remnant of a substratum of
Lower Paleolithic stock which had been overlaid by Magda-
lenian culture. 14 Or they may have represented a transition
culture between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic, 15 perhaps a
transition between the cultures of the north and the south.

NEOLITHIC CULTURE

During the period of time in which the Asturian culture
flourished in the north, peoples of the Neolithic entered and
developed their culture along the Mediterranean coast of
Iberia. 10 In its early years this culture clearly showed influences
of the makers of the small geometric flints, but pottery makers
and agriculturists were at work, and other Neolithic influences
from the eastern Mediterranean were increasingly evident,
coming both by land through North Africa and by sea along
the Mediterranean. This culture, having strong African traits,
with a pastoral base but also with rudimentary farming, af-

13 Probably slightly later than the period of settlement at Muge. See
Martinez Santa-Olalla, Esquema paletnologico, p. 49; Caro, Los Pueblos
del Norte, p. 40; Abel Viana, "Os Problemas do Asturiense Portugues,"
Congresso do Mundo Portugues, V, 170; Hermann Lautensach, "Die
diluviale Umwelt des Menschen in Portugal," Congresso do Mundo
Portugues, XVIII, 748-749.

14 Pericot Garcia, Las Raices de Espana, p. 27.

15 Mendes Correa, "A Lusitania pre-romana," Historia de Portugal, I,
115.

16 According to Pericot Garcia (La Espana primitiva, p. 112) the
Neolithic phenomena started about 5000 B.C. The full Neolithic in Spain
may be dated from 3500 to 2000 B.C. Martinez Santa-Olalla, Esquema
paletnologico, p. 53.

65

PREHISTORIC IMMIGRANTS

fected a large part, perhaps all, of the peninsula. It was,
however, chiefly along the Mediterranean coasts that it was
important. 17 Again Portugal remained largely to one side of the
stream of events, showing nothing more than a slight infiltra-
tion of elements of the more advanced culture. Discoveries
there of the early and even of the full Neolithic are few. 18

ALMERIA CULTURE

At the beginning of the third millennium B.C., the Metal Age
came to Iberia through the migration of a Saharan group,
which established itself in the area of present Almeria. This
culture complex included from the outset articles of copper,
especially a large number of weapons. 19 Almeria culture spread
into Andalusia on the one side, and into the valley of the lower
Ebro River on the other. It may have been the foundation of
what later became known to the Greeks as Iberian culture. At
least from that time onward, in this area there is no evidence
of any ethnic change of importance until the time of the first
historical record, when the Greeks encountered the Iberian
Tartessians and other littoral peoples of the south of the penin-
sula. 20 Obviously this does not prove direct connection and
lineal descent of the Iberians from the Almerians, but as
Mendes Correa points out, the assumption is not unreasonable
even though there is no direct evidence. 21

, pp. 53-54.

18 Mendes Correa, "A LusMnia pre-romana," Historia de Portugal, I,
116.

19 Alberto del Castillo, "El Neoeneolitico," Historic, de Espana, Tomo I,
Vol. I, Pt. 4, 523, 571.

20 Bosch Gimpera, "Los Iberos," Cuadernos de Historia de Espana, IX,
6; Hugo Obermaier and Antonio Garcia y Bellido in El Hombre pre-
historico y los origenes de la humanidad, pp. 258-259; Juan Maluquer
de Motes, "Pueblos Ibericos," Historia de Espana, Tomo I, Vol. Ill, 306.

21 Mendes Correa, "A Lusitfoiia pre-romana/* Historia de Portugal, I,
155.

66

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

MEGALITHIC PHENOMENA

About a thousand years after the appearance of Almeria
people, came the dramatic appearance of great stone burial
structures. Many authors refer to a Megalithic culture, but as
Pericot has pointed out, in view of its distribution and of the
diverse peoples and cultures involved e.g., the herders of the
Cantabrians and Pyrenees as well as the agriculturists of the
Guadalquivir valley it can hardly be called a culture. It is
better to refer to the Megalithic phenomena. 22 This cult use of
great monoliths with capstones for burials, called dolmens
(from two Breton words meaning "stone" and "table"), in-
volves thousands of such structures and brings western Iberia
to the center of the stage for the first time. There are especially
great numbers of them in northern Portugal where their con-
struction probably spanned a period of time from the late
Neolithic Age into the Bronze Age. 23 It is argued by many
Spanish and Portuguese scholars that their point of origin is to
be sought within the Iberian. Peninsula. 24 If concentration of
numbers is the basis of decision this argument is a strong one.
However, it ignores the existence of far older Neolithic dolmens

22 Pericot Garcia, La Espana primitiua, p. 144,

- 3 Mendes Correa, "A Lusitania pre-romana," Historia de Portugal, I,
118.

- 4 The phenomena were widespread. But from where did the idea
come? One finds proponents for theories of origin for any of the countries
from Portugal to those of the eastern Mediterranean. Mendes Correa ("A
Lusitania pre-romana," Historia de Portugal, I, 140) suggests that it
might have been Portugal. Oberrnaier and Garcia y Bellido (El H ombre
prehistorico, p. 174) agree fundamentally with him. Martinez Santa-
Olalla (Esquema paletnologico, p. 59) points to southeast Spain. Bosch
Gimpera says ("Los Iberos," Cuadernos de Historia de Espana, IX, 14)
that the Megalithic culture in Portugal owed its origins to an indigenous
non-Capsian culture but with Capsian infiltrations from the south, Anda-
lusia, and the mesetas of Spain, this mixture constituting the basis of the
pre-Celtic indigenous population of Portugal which appeared later as the
historical Lusitanians. Pericot suggests (La Espana primitiva, p. 146)
that the idea of the Megalithic tomb was introduced into Iberia in simple
form, perhaps in several places, and in these different places took its
diverse forms. Carleton Coon expresses the idea (The Races of Europe,
p. 490) that the phenomena were the result of the spread by maritime
Mediterraneans.

67

PREHISTORIC IMMIGRANTS

of Palestine, apparently built in imitation of earlier habita-
tions. 25 Whatever may have been the place of origin, certainly
the development of the cult seems to have been of basic im-
portance in Iberia, from where certain local features spread to
northern Europe on the one side and along the Mediterranean
on the other. 26

Toward the end of the Bronze Age another feature, almost
surely of Andalusian derivation, the campaniform vase, spread
widely throughout Europe. 27 This source of contact, as well as
those of the cult associated with the dolmens, created a bond
and an interchange between the peoples of Iberia (including
Portugal, which so frequently has stood out of touch with
European developments ) and wide areas of the rest of Europe,
as well as with the eastern Mediterranean shores. Whether the
dolmens originated in Portugal, Spain, or elsewhere, is less im-
portant here than the fact of the obviously important contact
between western Iberia and the world of Europe and western
Asia during the early Bronze Age.

In southern Portugal, as a variation upon the sepulchral
structures of the other Portuguese Megalithic, there developed
a special type of dolmen, named for the site of Alcala and hence
called Alcalar. Instead of monoliths supporting the great slab
on top, pillars were made of small stones, either fitted or
cemented together. The precise dating of these dolmens can
not be given. They may have been coexistent with those of the
middle and the north of Portugal, or they may have developed
later, representing a continuation of the traits of the early
Bronze Age into a period of time when much of the remainder

25 W. F. Albright, The Archaeology of Palestine, Penguin Books, p. 64.
Pericot (La Espana primitiva 3 p. 146) favors the idea of eastern origin.

26 The simple architecture of present North Portugal is strongly
reminiscent of that of the dolrnenic period.

27 For the European distribution, see Obermaier and Garcia y Bellido,
El H ombre prehistorico, p. 171. The campaniform vase, presumably of
Andalusian derivation, has been found in many Portuguese sites, al-
though, strangely, not in the Algarve, the adjacent Portuguese area
usually thought to be culturally closest to Andalusia, and but few in the
Alentejo. Mendes Correa, "A Lusit&nia pre-romana," Historic de Portugal,
I, 130.

68

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

of the peninsula was far more advanced in the use of metals
and in agricultural techniques.

PROBLEMS OF CHRONOLOGY

Actually, it is not always possible to speak positively in the
comparison of peninsular regions and the time of their de-
velopment. Throughout Iberia the problems of chronology and
sequence are great. At various periods of time there have been
cultures of greatly differing stages existing near each other. For
example, in the later Bronze Age of other Western European
countries much of Portugal remained in the stage in which
copper was dominant. It did not really take part in the full
Bronze Age developments. In fact, in Portugal there is a notable
hiatus in the record between early Bronze Age developments
and those of the second Iron Age, the latter intrusive from
Central Europe and taking root among early Bronze Age cul-
tures. Such unconformity does not exist through most of the
rest of Iberia. 28 For example, in Spain the period of dolmenic
phenomena was also one of a flourishing agriculture, as well as
one of an increasing use of metals. 29 Portugal, the site of great
energy in the construction and elaboration of the structures
themselves, did not keep pace in other respects with the
neighboring parts of the peninsula. Portugal not only lagged
in the use of metals, but probably in the advancement in agri-
culture. Barley at least was cultivated, 30 but there is no evi-
dence to show that agricultural development in general was
anything but meagre.

PORTUGAL'S OFFSIDE POSITION

Portugal lost subsequently even the energy of its period of
dolmen construction and then drifted into what seems to have

28 Mendes Correa, "A Lusitania pre-romana," Historia de Portugal, I,
146-147.

29 Martinez Santa-Olalla, Esquema paletnologico, pp. 59-60.

30 Jorge Bias, Os Arados Portugueses e as suas provdveis origens, p, 92.

69

PREHISTORIC IMMIGRANTS

been a cultural backwater. It scarcely took part In the splendid,
basically Mediterranean culture, the Argaric, which brilliantly
developed techniques in the use of silver, copper, and bronze.
This culture, named for the site of El Argar in southeast Spain,
spread into southern and northeastern Spain and even into the
Balearic Islands, but in Portugal only into the Algarve. 01 Al-
though Portugal gained very little from these developments
which took place elsewhere in the peninsula, she did contribute
raw materials to them. Such middle and late Bronze Age finds
as have been made in Portugal are all related to the distribu-
tion of metals. During the period of Argaric culture, the copper
of South Portugal was exploited. In a later period of the
Bronze Age the tin of North Portugal became important. The
south, with most of the copper deposits of Portugal, and the
north, with most of the tin, have yielded remains of Bronze
Age axes, whereas the Center, lacking for the most part both
of these metals, is almost entirely devoid of the ax remains.
However, none of the finds later than those of the dolmenic
period suggest local developments or inventions. All indicate
that they were of foreign provenience and that they were in-
trusive into an otherwise little changed older culture. 32

31 It probably did not spread beyond the Algarve in Portugal, although
there have been isolated finds in the Alentejo. Mendes Correa, "A Lusi-
tania pre-romana," Historia de Portugal, I, 148; Bosch Gimpera, "Los
Iberos," Cuadernos de Historia de Espana, IX, 42, 44.

Bosch Gimpera, "Los Iberos," Cuadernos de Historia de Espana, IX,
43) dates it 1900-1200 B.C. Martinez Santa-OlaUa, on the other hand,
shortens the span (Esquema paletnologico, p. 61); his dates are 1500-
1200 B.C.

32 Mendes Correa, "A Lusitania pre-romana," Historia de Portugal, I,
152.

CHAPTER 6

Early Central European Influences
in Iberia

INDO-EUROPEAN MIGRATION INTO IBERIA

EAR THE END of the second millennium B.C. great
cultural changes took place in Iberia, but how and
by whom is still an open question. Traces of Central
f WWV 1 European bronze culture first appeared in the north,
and presumably not long after that introduction the first Indo-
Europeans arrived. The first Celts may have arrived by 900 B.C.,
bringing small groups of Germans with them. Such is the belief
of Bosch Gimpera. 1 But his is not the only theory regarding
the immigrants. Julio Martinez Santa-Olalla thinks that the
earliest Indo-Europeans were pre-Celtic Bronze Age people
who arrived in Iberia about the year 1000 B.C. and were fol-
lowed by other Bronze Age, pre-Celtic Indo-Europeans, the
Urnfields people. 2 Almagro finds it difficult to distinguish be-

1 Pedro Bosch Gimpera, "Two Celtic Waves in Spain 77 (Sir John Rhys
Memorial Lecture of November 8, 1939), Proceedings of the British
Academy, XXVI (1940), 29.

2 Julio Martinez Santa-Olalla, Esquema paletnologico de la Peninsula
Hispdnica (2nd ed.), pp. 62-68, 78-79.

71

CENTRAL EUROPEAN INFLUENCES

tween Urnfields, Ligurian, Illyrian, and Celt, and suggests that
after 800 B.C. the Indo-European peoples filtered into Iberia
throughout a considerable period of time and that they were
essentially of the same stock. 3 Pericot cautiously inclines to the
belief that there were numerous peoples entering Iberia after
900 B.C., differing considerably from each other but ultimately
dominated by Goidelic Celt culture. 4 Maluquer suggests greater
complexity, the first Celts entering by the eighth century at the
latest, but perhaps considerably before that date. 5

The above data, seemingly contradictory, are not presented
pointlessly. They indicate fairly well the present state of inde-
cision or at least lack of firm knowledge concerning the
migrations of the Indo-Europeans into western Europe. Fur-
thermore, they are not completely at sixes-and-sevens. It is to
be noted that all of the authors cited point to the movement
of Central European peoples into Iberia during the late Bronze
Age. Whether such migrants are to be identified as Celt or
pre-Celt may be secondary to the fact of their place of origin.
One other fact must be kept in mind, however; these earliest
Indo-Europeans, Celt or not, were not acquainted with the use
of iron. This metal was no doubt introduced into Iberia by
Celts, but so far there is no reason to reject the traditional belief
that its introduction is to be credited to the Goidelic Celts of
the seventh century. 6 By the middle of that century iron was
in common use in Catalonia, 7 but so far there have been no
earlier data established for its use in Iberia.

THE SPREAD OF THE CELTS

But who were the Celts, what kind of culture did they have,
and what were the areas of Iberia affected by them? These are

3 Martin Almagro, "La Invasion Celtica en Espana," Historia de
Espana, Tomo I, Vol. II, 262-272.

4 Luis Pericot Garcia, Las Raices de Espana, pp. 47, 50.

5 Juan Maluquer de Motes, "Los Pueblos de la Espafia celtica," His-
toria de Espana, Tomo I, Vol. Ill, Ft 1, 135.

6 Julio Caro Baroja, Los Pueblos de Espafia, p. 94.

7 Martinez Santa-Olalla, Esquema paletnologico, p. 78.

72

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

questions of fundamental importance in the historical geogra-
phy of Iberia, which are again, after a period of neglect, being
investigated by Iberian scholars. 8 That early Celts entered the
peninsula through the western passes of the Pyrenees and that
they left a strong impress upon the north of Iberia is beyond
doubt. However, there are gaps to be explained. For example,
in the present Spanish provinces of Vizcaya, Guipuzcoa, and
Navarra, there is no record of Celtic dominance. Yet Celts did
find their way through this presently largely Basque area. It
seems that the local population and culture were sufficiently
strong to resist, and finally to absorb and transform them. 9
Farther to the west, however, there was a different situation.
In many parts of Alava, Santander, Leon, and Asturias, Celts
either displaced or dominated the older stocks of people. 10 Still
farther west, especially in present northwest Portugal and
Galicia, they settled in numbers among, and blended with, a
firmly rooted farm population one made up of earlier farmers
from Central Europe (probably including some of Germanic
stock) and primitive, metal-using farmers harking back in their
ancestry to the Megalithic Period of the early Bronze Age. 11

The extent of Celtic spread in Iberia is still argued, but as
time and linguistic inquiry go on, much is being added to our

8 The Celtic question in Iberia has had periods of both attention and
neglect. Early culture historians focused great attention upon them, but
following upon that period of interest there was a period of neglect, when
enthusiasm for the culture of the Iberians of the Mediterranean coasts
eclipsed everything else. Only in the last quarter century has there been
a renewed interest and enthusiasm for Celtic culture and its effect upon
the Iberian peninsula. Now, indeed, the problem is considered with an
enthusiasm that goes to extremes which may counterbalance earlier neg-
lect but which hardly conduces to balanced judgment. Fortunately the
men most greatly concerned, realizing the danger of the situation, are
tempering enthusiasm with moderation. See Pericot Garcia, Las Raices de
Espana, pp, 47-48.

9 Bosch Girnpera, "Two Celtic Waves," p. 109.

10 Julio Caro Baroja, Los Pueblos del Norte de la Peninsula Iberica, p.
213. Many provinces of present Spain, such as Alava, Santander, and
Leon, bear the name of the most important city of the region. In such
cases, to avoid crowding on the place-name map, only the city is identified,

11 Maluquer, "Los Pueblos de la Espana celtica," Historia de Espafia,
Tomo I, Vol. Ill, Pt. 1, 10, 12, 77-79, 179,

73

CENTKAL EUROPEAN INFLUENCES

knowledge of the matter. Probably Celtic tongues spread from
southern France throughout most of the north of Iberia and on
the west extended southward to include the Lusitanians of
central Portugal. 12 They probably predominated in the interior
of the peninsula prior to the Roman advent. 13 In some areas
they reached the Mediterranean coasts, 14 and long before the
Roman entry probably soon after the arrival of the first iron-
using Celts connections had been re-established between the
peninsula, plus western France, and the British Isles.

ECONOMY OF THE CELTS HERDING

The Celts came into Iberia with their families, flocks, and
wagons and it is not without interest that the type of Central
European wagon that they introduced is still used in Galicia
and Asturias. 15 In their economy they represented a continua-
tion of the Bronze Age cultures of western Germany. 16 They
were agriculturists certainly, but also pastoralists. It is difficult
to determine which type of economy was dominant. Possibly
stock-raising was more important than farming, as in the case

12 Caro Baroja, Pueblos del Norte, pp. 82-84; Adolfo Schulten, Historia
de Numancia, p. 21.

13 Caro Baroja, Pueblos del Norte, pp. 82-85; Maluquer, "Los Pueblos
de la Espana celtica," Historic, de Espana, Tomo I, Vol. Ill, Pt. 1, 10.

14 Maluquer, "Los Pueblos de la Espana celtica," Historia de Espana,
Tomo I, Vol. Ill, Pt. 1, 9; Antonio Garcia y Bellido, La Peninsula Ib erica
en los comienzos de su historia, p. 58.

15 Maluquer, "Los Pueblos de la Espana celtica," Historia de Espana,
Tomo I, Vol. III ? Pt. 1, 171.

The carro chillon (or chirrion), typically with the axle firmly attached
to and turning with the wheels, is certainly not Roman. See Fritz Kriiger,
El Lexico rural del noroeste Iberico, p. 47. Caro Baroja (Pueblos del
Norte, pp. 144-149 and map) says that it is pre-Indo-European. Its
historical distribution is that of the northern and western peripheries,
the lands of pre-Celtic farmers and herders, with only limited extensions
into the edges of the meseta. See Krtiger, El Lexico rural del noroeste
Iberico, pp. 46-47. Also see Luis de Hoyos Sainz and Nieves de Hoyos
Sancho, Manual de Folklore, pp. 436-437.

16 Jorge Bias, Os Arados Portugueses e as suas provdveis origens, p.
101; Maluquer, "Los Pueblos de la Espana celtica," Historia de Espana,
Tomo I, Vol. Ill, Pt. 1, 11.

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

A Verraco in Ciudad Rodrigo

of the Neolithic communities of northern Europe. 17 In the
northern forests of Iberia there was an abundance of everything
necessary for their animals beech mast and acorns for pigs,
and food for horses, cattle, sheep, and goats. 18 Interesting evi-
dence of the importance of herding in northwest Iberia is found
in the large number of so-called verracos, testifying to the great
importance ascribed to certain animals, especially pigs. 19 The
region of these granite sculptures centers in the Spanish
provinces of Avila, Salamanca, and Zamora. From there the
sculptures crude, if you will, but so then is modern abstract
sculpture spread into the adjacent areas of North Portugal
and to some extent into Galicia. The earliest examples are prob-
ably to be credited to sixth-century Celts, 20 but the highest

17 Grahame Clarke, "Farmers and Forests in Neolithic Europe/* Antiq-
uity, XIX, No. 74 (June, 1945), 67.

18 Ibid., p. 70.

19 Jesus Taboada, "La Cultura de los verracos en el noroeste hispanico,"
Cuadernos de Estudios Gallegos, IV, No. 12 (1949), 15; Maluquer, "Los
Pueblos de la Espafia celtica," Historia de Espana, Tomo I, Vol. Ill, Pt.
1, 25.

20 Taboada, "La Cultura de los verracos . . . ," Cuadernos de Estudios
Gallegos, IV, No. 12 (1949), 17.

75

CENTRAL EUROPEAN INFLUENCES

development of the work was accomplished by later Celts,
probably between the fourth century B.C. and the first century

The veneration of the animal did not preclude the enjoyment
of its flesh. At about the beginning of the Christian era, Strabo
spoke of Cantabria (mountainous northern Iberia) as being
an area of fine hams, 22 and Varro said that "it was asserted that
once when a pig had been killed in Lusitania (present Middle
Portugal) there was sent as a present to a senator two ribs with
meat attached which weighed twenty-three pounds, and that
in the pig the depth of flesh from skin to bone was one and a
quarter feet." 23 That the veneration of animals was not unique
to Iberian environment is shown by the fact that Irish Celts
kept sacred cattle, and "royal" oxen, swine and sheep. 24

ECONOMY OF THE CELTS AGRICULTURE

Northern and northwestern Iberia was wonderfully suited
to the tastes of the Celts and to those of their herds of pigs,
sheep, cattle, 25 and goats. 26 Men here could pursue the male
tasks of herding, fighting, and hunting, and as these are rainy
lands of mild weather, women could cultivate wheat for
bread, 27 barley for beer, 28 and flax for textiles, 29 with the

21 Maluquer, "Los Pueblos de la Espana celtica," Historic de Espana
Tomo I, Vol. Ill, Pt. 1, 120, 138.

22 Caro Baroja, Pueblos del Norte, p. 26.

23 M. T. Varro on Farming, trans, by Lloyd Storr-Best, p. 172.

24 R. A. S. Macalister, Tara, a Pagan Sanctuary of Ancient Ireland, p.
124. See also Christopher and Jacquetta Hawks, Prehistoric Britain,
Pelican Books, p. 135.

25 Maluquer, "Los Pueblos de la Espana celtica," Historia de Espana,
Tomo I, Vol. Ill, Pt. 1, 176, 183.

20 Strabo reported that in this area goat's meat was eaten by preference.
Caro Baroja, Pueblos del Norte, p. 46.

27 Maluquer., "Los Pueblos de la Espana celtica," Historia de Espana,
Tomo I, Vol. Ill, Pt. 1, 99, 172.

28 Barley and beer were old in the region at the time of Strabo. See
Caro Baroja, Pueblos del Norte, p. 44.

29 Maluquer, "Los Pueblos de la Espana celtica," Historia de Espana,
Tomo I, Vol. Ill, Pt. 1, 172, 176. In Europe specialized hunting (highly
disciplined and in large bands) had passed out of existence prior to the

76

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

gathering of nuts and fruits as a supplementary means of pro-
viding food. Actually, farming may well have been more im-
portant than it would seem from the records. It is possible that
the simple activities, especially of women, in this patriarchal
society may have received less notice than they deserved. It is
of interest to observe that the Irish branch of these peoples
convened their assemblies to coincide with the critical days in
the agricultural year. 30 Or, indeed, it may be possible that the
men were more involved than the record shows. When the
Celts came into Iberia they brought with them their plow, al-
though it was not everywhere used. ai There can be little doubt,
in view of the universal association of plows and males, that
men were to some degree involved in planting, but the dis-
tribution of the use of the plow indicates that the association
of males with agriculture was either casual or that they were
easily dissuaded from it. For example, there was probably
no plow used in North Portugal prior to the advent of the
Romans. 32 This situation can probably be explained by the fact
that this northwest area preserved strong matrilineal rem-
nants. 33 Here, men considered farming unmanly and woman's
work. 34 Nor is this difficult to understand (given their back-
period about which we are writing. However, hunting by individuals
and sometimes by small groups was common. In no sense was it the
fundamental basis of life but always a supplement to the dietary.

Something the same can be said of gathering. None of the Europeans
of that time were fully dependent upon gathering in the sense in which
some of our primitive contemporaries depend. However, there is no
doubt that the women gathered nuts, fruits, greens, and perhaps many
other foods as a standard part of their domestic occupation.

30 Macalister, Tara, p. 155.

31 Caro Baroja, Pueblos del Norte, p. 211. See also Julio Caro Baroja,
"Los Arados espanoles, sus tipos y reparticion," Revista de Dialectologia
y Tradidones populares, V, No. 1 (1949), 93, 94, and Figures 15 and
17; Julio Caro Baroja, "La Vida agraria tradicional reflejada en el arte
Espanol," Estudios de Historia Social de Espana, I (1949), 92-94; and
Maluquer, "Los Pueblos de la Espana celtica," Historia de Espana, Tomo
I, Vol. Ill, Pt. 1, 171.

32 Dias, Arados, pp. 103, 107.

33 Caro Baroja, Pueblos del Norte, p. 205.

34 Maluquer, "Los Pueblos de la Espana celtica," Historia de Espana,
Tomo I, Vol. Ill, Pt. 1, 72.

77

CENTEAL EUBOPEAN INFLUENCES

ground), for it should not be overlooked that in the hilly north-
west, where people lived on the uplands, the plow was'of little
use. Until the Romans put men to work on the valley lands
where plows were serviceable, the area, reasonably enough,
remained an area of hoe farming. 35

Nevertheless, parts of Iberia were exploited by men with
plows. The Vacceos, living along the middle course of the
Duero River and also occupying the area to the north around
the present cities of Zamora, Valladolid, and Palencia, were
skilled grain farmers using plows. 36 Large quantities of wheat
were harvested, especially around Palencia, at the time of the
Celtiberian war. 37 It is true, however, that the Vacceos were
Celtiberians of late entry into the peninsula. They came es-
pecially late into the west, where they were in the act of appro-
priating lands from earlier Celtic settlers at the time of the
Roman conquest. 38 It happens that this area can be equated
with the zone of "dry and intermediate calcareous soils" shown
on the map of Del Villar. 39 They are approximately rendzinas
and are now considered to be one of the really excellent soils
for cereals. 40 So the question might well be raised as to whether
the Vacceos, admittedly plow-and-grain farmers, would have
taken precisely this area, so fitting to their desires, if it had not
been previously demonstrated to be desirable for use with their
tools.

The Vacceos were an interesting people from another point of
view. They were organized into a firmly controlled collectivist
society. At the time of the grain harvest, division was made
officially and equally and the death penalty was exacted for
holding out any of the grain from the collective pool. 41 It seems
that neither the Romans, nor their successors in authority
over this part of Iberia, destroyed the traditions of community

35 Ibid., p. 170. 36 Jorge Dias, Rio de Onor, p. 60.

37 Caro Baroja, Pueblos del Norte, p. 215.

38 Maluquer, "Los Pueblos de la Espana celtica," Historia de Espana.,
Tomo I, Vol. Ill, Pt. 1, 24.

39 Emilio H. del Villar, Los Suelos de la Peninsula Luso-Iberica (map).

40 Raymond E. Storie, personal statement.

41 Caro Baroja, Pueblos del Norte, p. 45.

78

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

effort ( and perhaps the Germanic Swabians strengthened them
again), for there are many parts of remote, mountainous Portu-
gal and northwestern Spain where such practices are continued
today attenuated, but still fundamental to the economy. 42

In the northern mountains, there may have been a primitive
combination of herding, farming, hunting, and gathering, with-
out particular accent upon one or the other. Strabo, a Medi-
terranean, was struck by the fact that these people lacked olive
oil and in place of it used butter or at least he is translated
to have said this. However, it seems possible that it was not
butter, for there is no positive evidence of milch cows in the
area, and the grease used may have been that of the pig. 4:l In
either case there was a dependence upon animal fat.

Gathering seems to have had considerable importance; 14
Strabo reported that the northern people depended upon
acorns for their food during three quarters of the year; but
probably he exaggerated the importance of the acorn and neg-
lected that of chestnuts, for the great forests of edible chest-
nuts in this area have been eliminated only during the last few
generations. In the nineteenth century they still flourished and
were an important source of food. 45

* 2 Dias, Rio de Onor, pp. 20, 28, 63. I have oversimplified the problem
in my statement. There are various and greatly differing opinions as to
the origins of collectivism in Iberia. Maluquer ("Los Pueblos de la
Espana celtica . . . /* pp. 94, 170) states his belief that such collective
economy may be a typical expression of the organization of a migrating
group. This contention is hard to accept in view of the persistence of
collective practices among the anciently rooted people in the present
northwest of Spain and North Portugal. Mendes Correa (Raizes de
Portugal, pp. 73-74) has called attention to the strong collective organi-
zation of the Megalithic culture groups. A further view is that of some
Spanish medievalists, who now think that such organization is likely to
be of medieval provenience, Orlando Ribeiro in "Villages et communautcs
rurales au Portugal," BiUos, XVI (1940), Tomo II, 420-421, shows how
collective systems in Tras-os-Montes hark back to pre-Roman times and
attributes them to necessary arrangements in a grain-pasturage-fallow
rotation.

43 Caro Baroja, Pueblos del Norte, p. 46.

44 Loc. cit.

45 Alberto Sampaio, "As Vilas do Norte de Portugal," Estudos historicos
e economicos, I, Pt. 1, 28.

79

CENTRAL EUROPEAN INFLUENCES

FIRST CONTACTS BETWEEN CELTS AND EARLIER

INHABITANTS OF IBERIA

The difference between Celtic culture, as commonly con-
sidered, and that of the earlier settlers is partly of degree and
partly of kind. The Celts had a background of culture not dis-
similar to that of some of the inhabitants encountered upon
their entry into that peninsula. 46 Similar background and tastes
may have allowed them to settle among the indigenous groups
in amity and cooperation, but we do not know this as a fact.

They may have pushed in by force, but in view of the dis-
parity between Celtic tribes it is probable that the situation
varied according to time, place, and tribe. The Celts of the
seventh century B.C. knew iron and were fighters. Their pos-
session of superior weapons and their propensity for battle may
have resulted in the forcible eviction of earlier peoples from
parts of Iberia. Some authors maintain that the sword should
be considered the badge of these Celts, that aggression was
their preference, and that the large number of fortified settle-
ments used by them in strategic locations supports this thesis. 47
Such authors are apt to credit to the Celts, both in origin as
well as in later development, the predominantly Portuguese
hilltop fort settlements known as castros and citdnias* 8 There
can be no doubt at all that castros were greatly elaborated by
the Celts in the centuries just before the birth of Christ and
that some of them during that time were converted into real
fortified cities. 49

40 Maluquer, "Los Pueblos de la Espana celtiea," Historia de Espana,
Tomo I, Vol. Ill, Pt. 1, 11.

47 Martinez Santa-Olalla, Esquema paletnologico, p. 79; Bias, Arados,
p. 99.

48 Some authors distinguish between a castro and a citdnia, saying that
the former was merely a fort and the latter both a fort and a place of
settlement. This distinction, according to an eminent authority on the
matter, has no value, since there is increasing evidence that all such
structures were used as settlements. See Mario Cardozo, Citdnia e
Sabroso, pp. 9-10.

49 Martinez Santa-Olalla, Esquema paletnologico, p. 103; Taboada,
"La Cultura de los verracos en el noroeste hispanico," Cuadernos de

80

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

THE PROBLEM OF THE CASTRO AND ITS ORIGIN

However, there is strong evidence adduced to support the
belief that the castros were pre-Celtic, for the quality and style
of the castro seems to indicate an origin out of the remote past
of Portugal itself. In all periods they were rude and showed a
continuation of archaic forms. The pottery associated with
them was often virtually the same as that of the earliest period
of the Bronze Age. 50 It may be of importance to observe that
the castro area of concentration in Iberia is approximately that
of the earlier area of dolmens in the peninsula, 51 that is, an area
with a strong Megalithic tradition, where the knowledge of
stone working is age-old, 52 and where the curved structure is
of ancient tradition. 53 Although castros were of a variety of

Estudios Gallegos, IV, No. 12 (1949), 26; Maluquer, "Los Pueblos de la
Espana celtica," Historia de Espana, Tomo I, Vol. Ill, Pt. 1, 15.

The development of large fortified cities here, however, did not involve
cultural improvements in other respects. The area is known to anthro-
pologists as one in which there was a continuance of early ways, in which
there was a prolongation of Hallstatt type culture generally, and in which
La Tene items were rare, as the connections with south and east Iberia
remained tenuous until the time of the Roman conquest. See A. A. Mendes
Correa, "A Lusit&nia pre-romana," Historia de Portugal, I, 174, 181.

50 Mendes Correa, "A Lusitania pre-romana . . . ," pp. 181-182.

51 A. de Amorim Girao, Geografia de Portugal, maps, pp. 214-216.

52 It is far from lost. In the Minho today props for grape trellises are
hewn from granite an unlikely material for such a purpose.

53 Maluquer, "Los Pueblos de la Espana celtica," Historia de Espana,
Tomo I, Vol. Ill, Pt. 1, 50. This is in keeping with the thought of
Richthofen that circular structures were pre-Celtic and non-Indo-Euro-
pean (Antonio Jorge Dias, "Las Construcciones circulares del Noroeste
de la Peninsula Iberica y las citanias," Cuadernos de Estudios Gallegos,
VI (1946), p. 176, and with Dr. Edwin Loeb, who argues that circular
structures probably originated with Hamitic peoples (personal statement) .

Another point of view is that of Florentine Lopez Cuevillas and Joaquin
Lorenzo Fernandez ("Las Habitaciones de los Castros," Cuadernos de
Estudios Gallegos, II, Nos. 5-7 [1946-1947], 7-74. See particularly pp.
10, 30, and 62-63), who argue that stone houses in northwest Iberia
were late and took their form from an earlier native round house, built
by interlacing branches for the walls and by roofing the structure with
straw. They point out that, although round nouses were known in Gaul,
they were so different in other respects that they cannot be compared
with the structures of northwestern Iberia. Their argument in support of
the belief in the "petrifaction" of the round cabana of branches is seduc-

81

CENTRAL EUROPEAN INFLUENCES

shapes round, elliptical, and some of no simple form but
with broken lines sharp angles were few and the curve pre-
dominated.

In another argument against the Celtic origin of the castro,
Maluquer points out that the earliest Celtic houses in Iberia
were not circular, but quadrangular, 54 and Bosch has shown
that Celtic structures south of the Mondego River were quad-
rangular. 55 However, it would seem again (as in the case of
relating one type of economy to a Celtic group and assuming
that this was the only type of economy to be found among
Celts in Iberia) that it may be a bootless procedure to try to
relate one type of house to all Celts. Obviously they used struc-
tures of a variety of shapes in the northwest of Iberia. This may
indicate, indeed, what has been suggested above, that the
Celts, especially the early Celts, were adjustable when they
entered Iberia not only in the choice of a means of livelihood,
pastoralism or agriculture, but also in the acceptance of the
building practices of the local area. The northern Portuguese
structures may probably be associated in the origin of their
type with the ancient dolmen area, whereas the rectangular
structures south of the Mondego River can, perhaps, be asso-
ciated with a distinct culture area with connections eastward
into the interior of the peninsula. 56

tive, but it does not dispose of the authors cited above nor of the ancient
tradition of masonry in the area.

54 Maluquer, "Los Pueblos de la Espaiia celtica," Historia de Espana,
Tomo I, Vol. Ill, Pt. 1, 181. If one wanted to confuse the issue even
further he might cite Maluquer again (ibid., p. 97), where he states his
belief that the castros, at least of the verraco area, go back to the early
Bronze Age and that they were later inhabited by Indo-Europeans. It
should be noted that these castros of the verraco area at least those that
have been excavated have rectangular structures quite different in
general character from the edifices of the North Portuguese-Galician
castro area (ibid., p. 100).

55 Bosch Gimpera, "Two Celtic Waves/ 7 p. 80.

56 Ibid., p. 83.

82

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

ROMAN IDENTIFICATION OF CELTS IN IBERIA

The problem of the extent of the spread of Celtic cultures
might be largely solved if we could be sure as to which of the
tribes of the peninsula first encountered by Greeks and Romans
were Celtic, but this is no easy task. It is a matter of confusion
and disagreement among scholars, all of whom can quote classi-
cal authors to their own satisfaction. For example, one of our
best sources of information for early Greek contacts is the
Ora Maritima, the work of a geographer of the first century
B.C., which was based upon the geography of Eforos, a work
composed in the fourth century B.C. Eforos, in turn, had in-
corporated into his manuscript material from a Massaliote
narrative of the sixth century B.C., adding data from the period
subsequent to the time at which the Greek author from Mas-
salia had written the document. The origin of the information
can be established, however, as being even earlier than the
sixth century, for the Greek of Massalia almost surely used
information from Punic sources antedating his time. In any
event, the early material is not entirely lost by passing through
so many hands. 57 In this document it is not clear that the tribes
of central Portugal and Spain, the Ceinpses and Sefes, were
Celts; 5S yet Herodotus said that the Celts lived next to the
Cinesios (usually called Cynetes or Conios) of the Algarve of
present South Portugal. Aristotle, on the other hand, said that
they were "above Iberia in a very cold region" (which does
not suggest Portugal), immediately to the north of the Cinesios.
Rather, it suggests the interior of Old Castile. Polybius, Strabo,
and Pliny, as well as many other Romans, said that the Celts
lived between the Tejo and Guadiana rivers, 59 which would
bring them more or less in accord with Herodotus.

57 Casimiro Torres, "Las Kassiterides," Cuadernos de Estudios Gallegos,
IV (1945), 623. Francisco Jose Velozo (Oestrymnis, pp. 39-40) ex-
pounds the view, and supports it with considerable evidence, that the
Or a Maritima was based ultimately upon Punic sources.

58 Almagro, "La Invasion Celtica en Espafia," Historia de Espana,
Tomo I, Vol. II, 245.

59 Mendes Correa, "A Lusitania pre-romana," Historia de Portugal,
pp. 164-165.

83

CENTRAL EUROPEAN INFLUENCES

DISPARITY OF MODERN OPINIONS REGARDING
CELTIC IDENTIFICATION

Modern authorities on the Iberian Peninsula have a tendency
to expand Celtic culture beyond the limits acceptable a genera-
tion ago. Bosch Gimpera, Schulten, and Dixon defend the idea
that the Cempses and Sefes were Celts. 00 Maluquer goes even
further, stating that not only these peoples, but the Cinesios as
well, 61 were Celts. Dixon would not quibble with the first part
of this view, but he believes that the Cynetes ( Cinesios ) were
Ligurians.

If the authorities cannot agree, it may be asked how one can
use the material in making judgments as to historical geography
of the area involved. There must be some attempt at clarifica-
tion, but if one thinks of Celts as being all essentially the same
and responding to differing environmental conditions always in
like manner, confusion is hard to dissipate. Understanding may
be had, however, with the realization that "Celtic" may mean
a variety of things in terms of economics and social structure.
It seems probable that classical authorities may have judged
native tribes and their ethnic associations in terms of language
and economic practices.

Among the several groups of Celts, at least three funda-
mental subdivisions should be made on the basis of language.
The Goidelic Celts, with Hallstatt techniques, must be kept
distinct from the Brythonic Celts with their elements of eastern
grassland culture and the strong admixture of Mediterranean
traits that came to be associated with Celtic La Tene culture. 62
A third group, the Belgas, who may be roughly equated with

(!0 Almagro, "La Invasion Celtica en Espana," Historic de Espana,
Tomo I, Vol. II, 245; Pierson Dixon, The Iberians of Spain and Their
Relations with the Aegean World, end map.

61 Maluquer, "Los Pueblos de la Espana celtica," Historia de Espana,
Tomo I, Vol. Ill, Pt. 1, 9.

62 Carleton S. Coon, The Races of Europe, pp. 186-187; Hugo Ober-
maier and Antonio Garcia y Bellido, El Hombre prehistorico y los origenes
de la humanidad (2nd ed.), p. 306.

Tne Iron Age came tardily into Central Europe from the Mediterran-
ean. However, it was taking clear form in the early part of the first
millennium B.C. The earliest period is termed "Hallstatt" after the type

84

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

the Celtiberians, must be recognized as distinct from the other
two. 03 The Belgas were the last of the major groups of Celts
to find their way into Iberia. For recognition of the special
qualities of these peoples we are indebted to the work of Malu-
quer, whose evidence as to their individuality is far more con-
vincing than the thesis of Schulten that makes the Celtiberians
merely a mixture of an early Celtic group with Iberians. 04

VARIATIONS AMONG THE CELTS

All of the above facts make it obvious that there were many
differences among the Celts.' 15 They were a mixed group ra-
cially, although dominantly Nordic, and they were mixed cul-
turally as well. 00 They were both agricultural and pastoral, but
the emphasis may have been quite different among the various
groups, for when they entered the Iberian peninsula they were
still in the formative stage of their culture. Any one of several
cultural trends might have been chosen. Some were strongly
influenced by native groups that had been firmly rooted in their
own areas and had developed well-integrated cultures. 07 Obvi-
ously, it is equally possible, and perhaps more probable, that
migrants who were both agricultural and pastoral would have
made their choice in terms of the place in which they elected
to settle or which was available to them for settlement. Where
farming proved to be more profitable, they would concentrate

site in eastern Austria. Its duration was roughly from 800 to 400 B.C.

"La Tene/" following the name of a type site in western Switzerland,
is the name associated with the later Iron Age in Central Europe, which
developed under frequent and intimate contacts with the Greek world,
especially through Greek Massalia (Marseilles). It was carried largely by
Celts and is usually dated as being from 400 B.C. to about the time of
the birth of Christ. It Was a far more sophisticated culture than that of
Hallstatt.

63 Maluquer, "Los Pueblos de la Espana celtica," Historic, de Espana,
Tomo I, Vol. Ill, Pt. 1, 12.

04 Schulten, Historic, de Numancia, p. 27.

05 Maluquer, "Los Pueblos de la Espana celtica," Historia de Espana,
Tomo I, Vol. Ill, Pt. 1, 13-15.

60 Ibid., pp. 8, 10.

67 Pericot Garcia, Las Raices de Espana, p. 51.

85

CENTRAL EUROPEAN INFLUENCES

upon it; and where pastoralism was advantageous, this would
be their emphasis. The Celts that went to the Mediterranean
region came under Phoenician, Iberian, Greek, and Etruscan
influences. 68 Those that went to the area of the rainy, green,
northwestern edge of Iberia, where there were agricultural
populations in some cases harking back to the Bronze Age,
settled themselves on the land, raising grains, flax, and animals.
The meseta, on the other hand, in most parts offered a more
promising opportunity for herding, and this occupation was the
choice of most Celts who settled there. 69

In the third century B.C., the northern mountains of Spain
were dominantly agricultural and matrilineal (which was pre-
Indo-Germanic ) , whereas the meseta was predominantly pas-
toral 70 and, typical of Celts, dominantly patrilineal. It seems
that the numerically greatly superior peoples of the northern
mountains maintained their fundamental way of life in spite of
the Celts who settled among them and asserted control over
them. The Celts fitted into the culture pattern of these earlier
inhabitants one that had had connections with the immemori-
ally old culture area of Central Europe. The peoples of the
sparsely settled meseta apparently were more largely changed
by Celtic customs. 71 With their pastoral-agricultural back-
ground, adjustment to either one or the other type of economy
presented no serious problems to the Celts. 72

68 There are other possible ones. See "Le Mobilier Funeraire de la
Tombe de Vix," La Revue des Arts, No. 4 (1953), 202; Raymond Bloch
and Rene Joffroy, "L* Alphabet du Cratere de Vix," Revue de Philologie,
XXVII, No. 11 (1953), 175-191; "Le Grand Cratere de Vix: produit de
1'Italie meridionale ou Vase etrusque*? Quelques theories a ne pas prendre
*a la lettre/" Revue Archeologique, Ser. 6, XLIII (Jan.-March, 1954),
71-79.

69 Maluquer, "Los Pueblos de la Espana celtica," Historic de Espana,
Tomo I, Vol. Ill, Pt. 1, 184.

70 Caro Baroja, Pueblos del Norte, pp. 29, 205, 226.

71 Bosch Gimpera, "Two Celtic Waves," p. 113.

72 There is another factor also, that of the non-Celtic Central Europeans
who accompanied the Celtic invasions. In some cases it may have been
these peoples who established the economic pattern. Many small Germanic
groups are perhaps involved in the Celtic invasions. See note 1 above,
and Maluquer, p. 10.

CHAPTER 7

Contacts between the Ancient

Civilizations of the Eastern

Mediterranean and Iberia

FIRST DIRECT CONTACTS

10

; NE FREQUENTLY meets claims that there was con-
tact between the far western coasts of present Spain
and Portugal and Crete of Minoan times. It is not
only a seductive idea but it makes a reasonable hy-
pothesis, for the Minoans were good navigators, traders, and
seekers of metals. Had they known anything of the Iberian
Peninsula they might well have been attracted; however, while
it is quite possible that the Mediterranean island route to the
west was used by them, 1 as yet there is no convincing evidence
that it was. The excavations of Almeria culture at Los Millares,
which may be dated as of 2000-1800 B.C., presented certain
items reminiscent of Aegean cultures, but there is no evidence
that would clearly demonstrate connection. Such items may
represent nothing more than casual parallelism. Other finds of
a somewhat later period in Spain make better evidence of con-

1 Rhys Carpenter, The Greeks in Spain, p. 17.

87

ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN CIVILIZATIONS

tact with the eastern Mediterranean lands, for they can be
neatly equated with materials of Egyptian Tell-el-Amarna of
1400-1200 B.C. The Egyptian trade items of this period of time
are well known to Spanish archaeology and almost surely may
be associated with Phoenician intermediaries. As of the present
date, such items may be taken as the earliest evidence of
direct contact between Iberia and the eastern Mediterranean
navigators. 2

A WESTWARD MOVEMENT

It could not have been long after this time that easterners
gained a greatly increased knowledge of Iberia and interest
in it. In a sense, there was a westward movement that was the
southern counterpart of a similar movement in the north. The
chronology of contacts between the eastern Mediterraneans
and Iberia is roughly comparable to that of the Central Euro-
pean contacts with north and northwest Iberia. The earliest
passage of Phoenician ships through the straits of Gibraltar
was probably made during the general period of time when
the Central European farmers and pastoralists were first enter-
ing the Cantabrian region. These events preceded the first
millennium B.C.

Later, Greek exploration and trade grew, following the ex-
ample given by neighboring Phoenicia, perhaps as early as the
ninth century and certainly by the end of the seventh century
B.C. Such contacts can be equated in time with the acceleration
of the east-west movement of peoples and cultures which took
place in the north with the advent of the Celts, who may have
appeared in Iberia as early as 900 B.C., and the main force of
which was felt by the sixth century. Between the sixth and
the third centuries B.C., while the lands of the western Medi-
terranean were developing under the influence of active and
aggressive Greeks and Carthaginians, northern Iberia was
changing under the influence of Celts of later arrival from be-
yond the Pyrenees.

2 Antonio Garcia y Bellido, Hispania Graeca, I, 5-7.

89

ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN CIVILIZATIONS

There was a difference, however, between the early contacts
along the Mediterranean coasts and those of the Central Euro-
peans with northern Iberia. It was not opportunity for settle-
ment that drew men along the southern coasts, but trade and
quite probably fishing, and perhaps evaporation of sea water
for salt. Sidon, the mother of many other Phoenician settle-
ments at home and abroad, bore a name meaning fishers' town,
and the Phoenician settlement, in approximately the present
location of Malaga, bore the name Malach, which means salt-
ing place. 3 It was the attraction of metals that drew the early
Greeks beyond the straits of Gibraltar and along the western
coasts of Spain.

CONTACTS WITH THE WEST COAST OF IBERIA

It is possible that the early merchant wayfarers sailed up the
west coast to trade directly with Galicia. But if they did, the
coast of present Portugal represented a gap in their interest,
for there is almost no record of them there. 4 It would seem that
Portugal was then, as through so many periods of time before
and after, apart from the main stream of events. It possessed
no great source of silver such as the mines of Andalusia, nor
of copper or tin (with slight exceptions in both cases). With
her metals, Spain was a magnet for the early traders, whereas
Portugal attracted casual traders at most. A few Punic settle-
ments in the south were devoted to fishing, salt-making, and
perhaps some farming, but none of these has left a record of
importance. There is sufficient knowledge of such settlements,
however, to assure us that Portugal was not entirely unknown
or untouched by developments, even though it was offside. In
part, it was affected directly, but the more important results
were indirect.

The history of the revolutionary events involved in the con-

3 Charles L. Cutting, Fish Saving, pp. 18, 21.

4 There are slight exceptions; for example, there is the Egyptian
scarab of the seventh century B.C. that was found in a pre-Celtic level at
Alcacer do Sal. See Pedro Bosch Gimpera, "Two Celtic Waves in Spain/ 3
Proceedings of the British Academy, XXVI (1940), 79.

90

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF POBTUGAL

tacts between Phoenicians, Greeks, and Carthaginians in their
commerce with Iberia is the basis for the understanding of the
ultimate domination of the whole peninsula by Mediterraneans
from Rome. In order to understand the effect upon Portugal
we must use, for the most part, evidence dealing with Spain;
indirect as it is, it has important bearing upon the development
of the Portuguese character and nation.

HOMOGENEITY OF THE IBERIAN MEDITERRANEAN REGION

At the time of their first contacts with the west, the earliest
Phoenicians and Greeks encountered a culture area with funda-
mentally similar characteristics throughout. It extended along
the Mediterranean coasts, slopes, and adjacent interior valleys,
from the Pyrenees to the Guadiana River. 5 The population had
been long rooted in the area, probably as far back as the Neo-
lithic period or even earlier.' 5 With their usual perspicacity, the
Greeks recognized this area as being essentially homogeneous
and sharply different in culture from the Celtic territories of
the interior and of the north and west peripheries. 7

EARLY POLITICAL GROUPS AND CONFUSION OF NAMES

This cultural homogeneity was not reflected, however, in
political unity, which has led to confusion in interpreting the
early accounts of peoples. Many politically disparate peoples
were essentially of the same culture, and the application in
many cases of several different names to the same group has
not increased understanding.

For example, frequently met are the names Ligurian and

5 And perhaps even to the Rhone. See Juan Maluquer de Motes,
"Pueblos Ibericos," Historia de Espana, Tomo I, Vol. Ill, Pt. 2, Chap. 1,
309.

6 Ibid., p. 306; Antonio Garcia y Bellido, La Peninsula Iberica en los
comienzos de su historia, pp. 5152; Luis Pericot Garcia, Las Raices de
Espana, p. 55.

7 Maluquer de Motes, "Pueblos Ibericos," Historia de Espana, Tomo
I, Vol. Ill, 306, 309.

91

ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN CIVILIZATIONS

Turditanian, but the precise identification of these peoples is
almost impossible to make. The first, according to Hesiod, were
the oldest inhabitants of the Iberian peninsula.* Eratosthenes
and Strabo mention them as being at the extreme west of the
peninsula, including, it would seem, Andalusia and the Algarve
of Portugal. Many writers believe them to have been the ur-
stock of the peninsula, dislodged from the south (except for
the Algarve ) by the Iberians, and from the north by the Celts
( except for the Basques, whom Schulten believes to be a rem-
nant of the Ligurians ) . However, the evidence is more contra-
dictory than enlightening, and the question remains vexed. 9

The derivation and distribution of the Turditanians is also
far from clear. Probably they may be equated with the Tar-
tessians of the middle and lower Guadalquivir valley and per-
haps the term should include the people of the area of Huelva
and beyond to the present Portuguese border. 10 Merchants and
miners from this general area may have found their way into
Portugal and established colonies at the time in which Argaric
culture was flourishing in Spain. The Ora Maritima indicates
that some of them may have been as far north as the location
of present Alcacer do Sal of the western Alentejo. Ptolemy
mentioned them as being in the areas of present Moura and
Beja of the eastern Alentejo u and their influence may have
spread as far north as the Mondego River in Middle Portugal;
but for none of this do we have firm and conclusive evidence.

In the earliest Greek texts the term "Iberian" is found, refer-
ring to peoples at the extreme southwest of present Spain, the
region of Huelva. 12 Yet in later texts of the Greeks the term is
applied to all peoples of the Mediterranean area of present

s Pierson Dixon, The Iberians of Spain and Their Relations with the
Aegean World, p. 2.

9 Pedro Bosch Gimpera, Etnologia de la Peninsula Iberica, pp. 631-
634.

10 Maluquer de Motes, "Pueblos Ibericos," Historia de Espafia, Tomo
I, Vol. Ill, 310-311.

11 See Pedro Bosch Gimpera, "Los Iberos," Ctiadernos de Historia de
Espaiia, IX (Buenos Aires, 1948), 71.

12 Garcia y Bellido, La Peninsula Iberica, pp. 45-47.

92

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

Spain. 13 Still later all non-Celtic peoples of the interior and
north were called Iberians, and ultimately the name became
generalized for the peninsula. 14 Originally the term had cultural
and perhaps ethnic meaning, but this was lost in its later use.
Indisputably, one of the important Iberian groups was that
of the Tartessians, wealthy farmers and traders in metals. 15 It
was their knowledge of the sources of metals that first brought
them in touch with the Phoenicians and Greeks. They knew
the coasts to the west and northwest of their home, for the tin
and gold that they traded came from Galicia. 1 ''' They were also
able to furnish silver, copper, and lead, which came to them
from the Guadalquivir River basin. 17 It appears that tin was
the product of greatest importance at the time. The early
centuries of the pre-Christian millennium were times of great
opulence along the coast of Galicia. That this wealth was due
to tin may be inferred from the fact that the Greeks used the
term Cassiterides to identify the area. However, the question
as to the ultimate source of tin is moot. In spite of the lack of
archaeological evidence it seems likely that, in the earliest years
of trading, it came from alluvial deposits along the river banks
of Galicia. There is a possibility, however, that Bronze Age
connections with French Brittany and with the British Isles had

13 Ibid., p. 51. Martinez Santa-Olalla and Almagro have been inclined
to deny the existence of an ethnically distinct group to be called Iberians
(Pericot, Las Raices de Espana, p. 54), but as time goes on this anti-
Iberian position is becoming more and more difficult to maintain. Almagro
himself in his later publications has altered his earlier view (Ibid., p. 56) .

14 Bosch Gimpera, "Los Iberos," Cuadernos de Historia de Espaila,
IX, 6.

15 Pericot Garcia, Las Raices de Espana, p. 56; Dixon, The Iberians of
Spain, p. 9; Maluquer de Motes, "Pueblos Ibericos," Hist or ia de Espana,
Tomo I, Vol. Ill, 309; Bosch Gimpera, "Los Iberos," Cuadernos de
Hist or ia de Espana, IX, 5.

16 C. Torres Rodriguez, "La Venida de los Griegos a Galicia," Cuader-
nos de Estudios Gallegos, VI (1946), 211, 218; Casimiro Torres, "Las
Kassiterides," Cuadernos de Estudios Gallegos, IV (1945), 624; Malu-
quer de Motes, "Pueblos de la Espana celtica," Hist or ia de Espana,
Tomo I, Vol. Ill, Pt. 1, 78.

17 Maluquer de Motes, "Pueblos Ibericos," Historia de Espana, Tomo
I, Vol. Ill, 339.

93

ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN CIVILIZATIONS

continued and that the Galicians were merely purveyors of tin
from those places. 16 This basic necessity of bronze-users was
scarce in the other parts of the Phoenician and Greek world.
There was no tin in all of North Africa, Asia Minor, Caucasia,
Cyprus, mainland Greece, and the Greek islands. The mines
of Tuscany were small. 10 It is no wonder that both Galicia and
the Tartessians were prosperous and that the Phoenicians and
Greeks were attracted to the area.

The Tartessians were named after the region in which they
lived, Tartessos, probably the Biblical Tarshish with which
Hiram of Tyre traded for metals in the tenth century B.C. 20 It
is likely that the name at first had no geographical significance,
merely meaning, to the Phoenicians, the market place for
metals. 21 Later, with the overriding importance of the lower
Guadalquivir Valley in such traffic, the name was pre-empted
for it, especially after the foundation of Gadir ( Cadiz ) by the
Phoenicians.

PHOENICIAN SETTLEMENT OF GADIR AND CARTHAGE

The ancient Tyrian settlement, Gadir, may be dated from
1000 B.C. There are numerous and convincing arguments sup-
porting such a date, 22 even though archaeology does not as yet
bear it out, and some pre-historians deny it vigorously. Dixon
would bring the date down to the eighth or seventh century
B.c, 23 but not all of his arguments are convincing. He claims

18 Torres, "Las Kassiterides," Cuadernos de Estudios Gallegos, IV
(1945), 624-632.

19 Torres Rodriguez, "La Venida de los Griegos a Galicia," Cuadernos
de Estudios Gallegos, VI (November 6, 1946), 218, quoting Quiring.

20 Antonio Garcia y Bellido, La Peninsula Iberica en los comienzos de
su historia, pp. 170-171.

21 Bosch Gimpera, "Los Iberos," Cuadernos de Historia de Espafia,
IX, 51.

22 Antonio Garcia y Bellido, Hispania Graeca, I, 32-37. Phoenician
ivories from Carmona, east of Seville in the Guadalquivir Valley, can
probably be dated as of the tenth century B.C. See W. F. Albright, The
Archaeology of Palestine, Pelican Books, p. 123.

23 Dixon, The Iberians of Spain, p. 23.

94

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

that Gadir, being farther from the mother city, could not have
been founded before Carthage, in spite of the fact that history
is replete with examples demonstrating that the maxim, "the
nearer, the sooner," Is not valid in the matter of colonization. 24
It seems obvious that its foundation was due to its position
facing the metal market of Tartessos. Also, it was an excellent
place for the settlement of traders who, in the tradition of the
eastern Mediterranean, were probably pirates as well, and if
not, were certainly conscious of the threat of piracy. The site,
at that time, was not connected with the mainland but sepa-
rated from it by a deep channel, sufficiently wide to serve for
defense. With its numerous wells of potable water and fine
pasture for cattle, it was a stronghold of obvious attractions. In
fact, the name Gadir, or Agadir, probably signified fortress or
castle." 7 ' Its location is much like the sites of early Tyre, Sidon,
and other cities of Phoenicia.

Some time after the settlement of Gadir, the Phoenicians
founded the city that was to become the most famous of their
colonies; Carthage was founded in 814 B.C. 20 In the same gen-
eral period of time, numerous little fishing and salting settle-
ments were founded along the coasts that stretched from Cape
S. Vicente in the west through the south of Portugal and along
the Mediterranean to Cape Gata of modern Spain. 27

GREEK EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT

The earliest Greek ventures may perhaps be dated as of the
ninth or the eighth century B.C. Possibly Rhodian and Chal-
cidian sailors were in the western Mediterranean at this time. 28

21 H. R. W. Smith, in his review of Garcia y Bellido's Hispania Graeca
in the American Journal of Archaeology, LVII, No. 1 (January, 1953),
31-36. The earliest Greek find in Spain is that of the Jerez helmet of
the seventh century B.C. This also is the find farthest from Greece bar
only one, the Huelva helmet.

3r> Garcia y Bellido, Hispania Graeca, I, 34.

2fi Ibid., p. 46.

27 Antonio Garcia y Bellido,, "Colonization Punica," Historia de Espana,
Tomo I, Vol. II, 331.

28 Garcia y Bellido, Hispania Graeca, I, 61, 77.

95

ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN CIVILIZATIONS

Garcia believes that for the last half of the eighth century there
is clear evidence of traffic with the islands and along the west-
ern coasts of the Mediterranean, picking up the metals for
which the Phoenicians had long been trading. The line of
Ionian names stretching along the islands and coasts of the
western Mediterranean and to the Atlantic coast of Portugal
the names with the oussa termination can probably be as-
cribed to this early period. 29 These names are interesting and
important in dating the arrival of the Greeks in western
waters.'" They mark the island route of the early Greek navi-
gators. Starting from Syrakoussai in eastern Sicily, they may be
followed through Ichnoussa (Sardinia), Meloussa (Menorca),
Romyoussa (Mallorca) and Pityoussa (Ibiza). The latter three,
even now, are identified on maps as the Balearics or Pityusas
(for example, in the Stieler Atlas). The oussa names extend
westward to the straits of Gibraltar and up the Atlantic coast
of Portugal to Ophioussa, in the region of Lisbon, and the
general area of Portugal plus Galicia may have been vaguely
termed Ophioussa. 31

If one could merely say "Greek" and thus clear up the ques-
tion of early contacts, the matter would be much simplified.
However, various Greeks were involved, and as they were not
all of the same viewpoint and intent, it is of some value to try
to determine which groups were concerned in these earliest
contacts.

THE PHOCAEAN GREEKS

Herodotus said that it was Greeks from the city of Phocaea
in Asia Minor who were first to navigate in the western Medi-
terranean waters. It may seem temerous to question the facts
of the father of history, but Garcia does so convincingly. The
Phocaeans, says he, arrived late upon the scene, profiting by

29 Ibid., p. 77.

30 Carpenter, The Greeks in Spain, p. 33. Schulten first recognized
them, and later the idea was more fully exploited by Carpenter.

31 Garcia y Bellido, Espana en los comienzos de su historia, map, p. 186.

96

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

earlier maritime contacts. Nor does he accept the statement
that the interesting and important voyage of Kolaios, the
Samian, was a voyage of discovery of Tartessos for the Greeks.
This widely heralded seventh century journey was, to him,
merely one although perhaps the most profitable and spec-
tacular up to that time of many such voyages that had been
made by Rhodians, Chalcidians, Samians, and others:" 2

Whatever the dating may be and the archaeological inquiry
has far to go the Phocaeans certainly became the most active
and effective Greeks in the area. Their colonization had energy
and breadth and was the only one in the western Mediter-
ranean with lasting results/ 13 If one can believe that necessity
is the mother of invention, or at least of effort, one can under-
stand why relatively humble Phocaea achieved her success.
Situated upon a good harbor near the mouth of the important
Hermos (Gediz) River in Asia Minor, it was limited by the
earlier activities and monopolies of more important neighbors,
Miletus, Ephesus, and Samos, which had colonized vigorously
around the eastern Mediterranean. Phocaea had to look farther
afield for a sphere of profitable activity. There is no specific
evidence that this activity was connected with the decay of
Tyre, but there is such a coincidence in time. Tyrian decline
had begun by the end of the eighth century B.C. and was
notable during the following century. This was the time of the
voyage of Kolaios the Samian (650 B.C.), the founding of the
Phocaean colony of Massalia, present Marseille (600 B.C., or
approximately then)/ 4 and the founding of Alalia in Corsica
(640 B.C., or approximately forty years prior to Massalia). 35

32 Garcia y Bellido, Hispania Graeca, I, 121, 124. Another point of
view Is expressed by H. R. W. Smith in his review of Garcia y Bellido's
Hispania Graeca, American Journal of Archaeology, LVII, No. 1 (Jan-
uary, 1953), 33. Smith does not deny the thesis of Garcia but says that
he can find no reason to believe that the Phocaeans reached Tartessos
prior to the time of Arganthonios, the Tartessian king friendly to the
Greeks, or before the voyage of Kolaios.

23 Garcia y Bellido, Hispania Graeca, I, 97.

s * Ibid., p. 115.

25 Ibid., p. 156,

97

ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN CIVILIZATIONS

Some time before the end of the century, Mainake, the most
westerly of Phocaean colonies, was founded near Malaga. :j ' ;

This century was one of intimacy between Phocaeans and
Tartessians. The reign of Arganthordos of Tartessos began in
the seventh century B.C." 7 The ancient sources spoke of his
eighty-year reign but probably, in typical Greek fashion, they
dramatized a dynasty or a period by creating a mythical lon-
gevity for a single ruler. Whether this represented one ruler
or several does not alter the fact that there was frequent and
close contact between Tartessos of the period and Phocaea.
This was the period of the Phocaean maritime dominance 38
and also the period of time during which the Tartessian king
lent money to the Phocaeans to build their fortifications against
the threat of the Persians. 30

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GREEKS AND PUNIC PEOPLES
IN THEIR RELATIONS WITH IBERIA

The period of the decline of Tyre was not only important for
the Ionian Greeks, but also for the Tyrian colony of Carthage.
During the time of Phocaean colonization, Carthage too was
expanding. As early as 653 B.C. it had established the colony
on Ibiza of the Balearics, which lay athwart the Greek island
route to the west. 40 After 573 B.C., when Tyre fell to the Baby-
lonians, Carthage showed increasing independence. Competi-
tion for western metals was growing between the two great
rivals, Carthage and Greece. It is reasonable to assume that the
friendship of Arganthonios (or that of his dynasty), through

30 Within twenty miles to the east, says Garcia y Bellido (Hispania
Graeca, I, 130-131). Smith suggests (in a review of Hispania Graeca,
op. cit., p. 34) that it might even be at approximately the outskirts of
present Malaga.

37 630-550 B.C., according to Garcia y Bellido, Hispania Graeca, 1, 129;
or 620-540 B.C., according to Dixon, The Iberians of Spain, Appendix.

3s 584-540 B.C., according to Garcia y Bellido, Hispania Graeca, 1, 144;
or 577-533 B.C., according to Dixon, The Iberians of Spain, Appendix.

39 Dixon, The Iberians of Spain, p. 48.

40 Garcia y Bellido, Hispania Graeca, I, 103.

98

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

almost a century of time, was more than mere affection and
amiability. It probably represented a form of alliance in which
the Tartessians aided the Phocaeans in their struggle against
the threat to their mother city. In return, Greeks supported
the westerners against the growing aggressiveness of Carthage
and the Punic colony of Gadir, which threatened the area of
Tartessos.

Almost from the time of their founding of Gadir the Phoe-
nicians showed their expansionist tendencies. It was not long
before they were using the island as a base of attack against
the mainland and the Tartessians. 41

The Greeks were usually neither pacific nor friendly neigh-
bors when the prospect of gain was apparent. In this they dif-
fered little from the Phoenicians. However, in their relations
with the Tartessians they had no desire, it would seem, for
control of land or people, but merely wanted to trade their
products, especially olive oil and wine, for Tartessian metals. 42
In fact, the history of Greek contacts with Iberians is one of
amity, and the hospitality of the Iberians toward Greeks was
proverbial. 43 The purposes of both peoples were served by
friendly intercourse and mutual support against the common
enemy, especially after the increased importance and the ex-
panded ambition of Carthage. A major clash and a final deci-

41 Garcia y Bellido, "Colonizacion Punica," Historia de Espafia, Tomo
I, Vol. II, Pt. 3, 331-332.

42 Dixon, The Iberians of Spain, p. 15, and Carpenter, The Greeks in
Spain, p. 96, state that the olive and the vine were introduced into Spain
by the Greeks. Olive oil was exported from Greek Akragas to Carthage in
the first half of the first millennium B.C. See T. J. Dunbabin, The Western
Greeks, p. 221. There is no reason to suppose that it was not also sent
to Iberia, even though J. G. D. Clark in Prehistoric Europe, the Economic
Basis, p. 116, doubts such an early introduction into the west. Wine made
from grapes is very old in the countries of the eastern Mediterranean, and
the Phoenicians were famous merchants of wine. No doubt the Greeks
traded in wine with Iberia, but it may have been Phoenicians who
introduced it there. See H. F. Lutz, Viticulture and Brewing in the
Ancient Orient ; p. 31.

43 Maluquer, "Pueblos Ibericos/" Historia de Espana, Tomo I, Vol. IIL
307.

99

ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN CIVILIZATIONS

sion as to complete dominance of the area was inevitable. This
was speeded by events in the eastern Mediterranean area.

THE ALALIA COLONY AND ITS EFFECTS

In the middle of the sixth century B.C., events took their
course in a rapidly changing scene. In 546 B.C., Cyrus, the
Mede, captured Sardis and the Lydian monarch, Croesus. The
fright that this occasioned among lonians nearby caused a mass
migration of perhaps half of the population of Phocaea from
Asia Minor to their Corsican colony of Alalia. 44 When the gen-
erals of Cyrus took Phocaea, all the men in this city of prob-
ably five to seven thousand people had gone. 45 This population
figure suggests the large number of available vessels, and points
to the commercial importance of the city at that time.

The Alalia settlement proved to be of short duration, for its
position on the Tyrrhenian Sea, through which so much traffic
moved between Carthage and Etruria, made it a threat to this
major route of commerce. It must be remembered that in those
days along the Mediterranean only small distinction existed
between trade, fishing, and piracy. The Greeks were as cold-
blooded and grim a group of predators as could be found. All
ships were prepared to exploit any possible opportunity of gain.
Not only was the trade route threatened, but so also were Punic
interests in Sardinia. Obviously, neither the Carthaginians nor
the Etruscans could tolerate such a situation. They united their
forces, each furnishing sixty vessels to a battle fleet. This fleet
was opposed by sixty Phocaean vessels which, although trim-
mer and more effective, were decisively defeated, sometime
between 540 and 535 B.C. 46 Carthage may then have sealed the
straits of Gibraltar, as Carpenter suggests. 47 More likely, the

44 Garcia y Bellido, Hispania Graeca, I, 177, 181.

45 Ibid., p. 183.

46 Ibid., pp. 185-186. Carpenter dates it as 535 (The Greeks in Spain,
p. 18). Herodotus speaks of the Phocaean victory. If they did achieve a
victory, it was Pyrrhic, for the result was disastrous.

47 Carpenter, The Greeks in Spain, p. 34.

101

ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN CIVILIZATIONS

straits had been largely sealed for a long time, but after the
battle the land route between Malnake and Tartessos was also
blocked. Mainake itself was destroyed by the Carthaginians
toward the end of the century/ 6 to end its traffic and its com-
petition with the Carthaginian settlement in the location of
present Malaga. 49

This period of Carthaginian supremacy may have given rise
to the legends of sea monsters and other dangers of the Atlan-
tic. Pindar, in the middle of the fifth century, spoke of the
dangers beyond the Gates of Hercules. The Greek capacity for
mythologizing real events may have given birth to the super-
stitious fears which plagued at least some mariners down to the
time of the Age of Discoveries. There were sea monsters cer-
tainly, after Carthaginian dominance of the western Mediter-
ranean, but they were under the command of Carthaginians.

ECONOMIC CHANGES IN THE WEST

As Carthage had inherited the western empire of Tyre, so
did Massalia fall heir to that of her mother city, Phocaea. Greek
trade became centered here, with the end of Phocaean mari-
time enterprise in the west of the Mediterranean. Trade
through France to Brittany and beyond had been undoubtedly
important to the Massaliotes previous to this time, but the rec-
ord had been obscured by the greater drama of the struggle on
the Mediterranean.

During the last half of the sixth century B.C., during which
time Carthaginians grasped complete power in the west, the
prosperity of Galicia presumably based upon tin declined. 50
This decline may have been due simply to the change from the
sea route, by way of the straits, to that from Massalia, via the

48 Garcia y Bellido, Hispania Graeca, I, 149.

49 Founded probably in the eighth century B.C. Dixon, The Iberians oj
Spain, p. 24.

50 Torres, "Las Kassiterides," Cuadernos de Estudios Gallegos, IV
(1945), 627.

102

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

French rivers, to the northwest and ultimately to Britain. But
the question must be raised as to why Carthaginian control
would have reduced the importance of the Galician area if it
had been a primary producer of tin. The Carthaginians \vere
aggressive traders and presumably would not have appropri-
ated a productive area from the Greeks just to watch it languish.
There are several possible explanations. (1) It may have
been simply a matter of the playing out of the placer tin in
the Galician area. (2) More likely, the Galicians had for some
time been not producers, but purveyors, of tin from French
Armorica or the British Isles. If this were true, the direct land
route from Massalia w j ould have skirted the Carthaginian bar-
rier and eliminated Galician middlemen. (3) It is possible that
interest in tin diminished because of the increasing use of iron.
(4) The Carthaginians had little coinage until the fourth cen-
tury B.C., and that for payment of mercenaries. The great de-
mand for bronze by Greeks was for armor and sculpture. As
Carthaginian archaeology indicates little interest in either, tin
may have had little importance to them. 31 Moreover, at ap-
proximately the same period of time there was an increased
interest in silver. The Phoenicians had early been interested in
silver; 1 - and during the centuries of the rise of Greek trade the
demand was increased by the avidity with which the Greeks
of Asia Minor sought it for coinage. 53 Metal from the rich mines
in the area of the headwaters of the Guadalquivir River 54 was
brought downstream to Tartessos. Perhaps the richest of ancient
silver mines was that of Mastia (or Massia), a region second
only to Tartessos in commercial importance. The ancient pros-
perity of the region and of its most important city, also named
Mastia (or Massia), the later Cartago Nova, and probably the
site of the present Cartagena, was based upon silver mining 55

51 H. R. W. Smith (personally transmitted note).

52 Garcia y Bellido, Hispanic Graeca, I, 30-31.

53 Dixon, The Iberians of Spain, p. 33.

51 Mines near present Linares. Carpenter, The Greeks in Spain, p. 37.

52 Ibid., pp. 28-29. Cartago Nova, present Cartagena, was founded by
the Carthaginians in 221 B.C. Ibid., p. 91.

103

AXCIEXT MEDITERRANEAN CIVILIZATIONS

through several centuries. Great amounts were mined under
the direction of Hannibal In the third century B.C., and it was
still a large operation at the time of Polybius in the succeeding
century. 5fj

CARTHAGINIAN DOMINATION OF THE WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN

Prior to the battle of Alalia the Carthaginians had conquered
Sardinia 57 (one of the oussa links in Greek traffic), partly by
the use of mercenaries recruited from their seventh-century
colony of Ibiza (another oussa link). Beyond the straits of
Gibraltar the early Punic settlement of Gadir gave them stra-
tegic control of that region. Besides these important strong-
holds, there were others, of lesser importance but adding to
total Carthaginian strength. Greek commercial activity in
Iberia was ended and Carthage was less inhibited in the spread
of its control Tartessos, which had feared the Carthaginians
and had allied itself with the Greeks, was left without support
and was destroyed/' 8 In the following century, probably twenty
thousand Iberian mercenaries were fighting in Sicily for the
Carthaginians. 59 Fourth-century evidence indicates that some
Celts were also serving as mercenaries in the Carthaginian
forces. 60

There was an increasing reliance upon mercenaries from the
peninsula, not only from the fringes but from deep within the
interior as well. In the late third century B.C., Hannibal's army
included Celtiberians from the northern interior, Galicians from
the extreme northwest, Lusitanians from Middle Portugal,

50 Dixon, The Iberians of Spain, p. 34.

57 Garcia y Bellido, Hispania Graeca, I, 147.

58 If there was no one city of that name, it is not important to the
larger fact that the area as a whole was put under the control of the
Carthaginians of Gadir. Carpenter, The Greeks in Spain, pp. 34-35.

59 The Carthaginians made a bargain to save themselves before Syra-
cuse, leaving their allies and mercenaries behind. The Iberians were then
enlisted as a unit into Syracusan forces. Later, some of them served in
Greece.

00 Garcia y Bellido, Hispania Graeca, I, 23-24.

104

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

Vetones from the middle Tajo drainage and these do not com-
plete the list.' ;i Such troops, however, were something other
than pure mercenaries; many had been forcibly impressed into
service. In spite of Hannibal's amazing campaigns in Italy, it
may be wondered if they might not have been even more spec-
tacular had there been no bitter opposition in Iberia to his
forcible draft of troops. During earlier centuries no general
antagonism in Iberia seems to have been engendered by the
Carthaginians. Locally there may have been antagonism, such
as probably existed between the Carthaginians and the Tartes-
sians, but for the tribes of the interior the Carthaginians may
have had a friendly appeal. They offered an opportunity to
fight with pay. It was later, when the Carthaginians had ex-
panded their power and increased their need for troops, that
their tactics changed with regard to these tribes of the interior,
which had long served as a source of manpower. When Han-
nibal, in desperate need for troops and under economic pres-
sure, forcibly impressed some of them into his armies, the
others reacted in bitter opposition. The tribes of the interior
were a bellicose lot. An opportunity to fight for pay was not
distasteful to them but a demand that they submit to enslave-
ment was another matter. According to Strabo they resisted
Hannibal as they later did the Romans for somewhat the same
reasons/ 1 "

Nevertheless, tens of thousands of mercenaries were intro-
duced to new lands and cultures of the middle and eastern
Mediterranean. Since this process had been going on from as
early as the sixth century B.C. and many men had returned to
the peninsula, the effect upon attitudes of the peoples of the
meseta and even some of the remote western coasts may have
been considerable.

In the area of present Portugal, Carthage recruited a few

61 A. A. Mendes Correa, "A Lusitania pre-romana," Historia de Portugal,
I, 175.

2 J. Garcia Mercadal (trans, and ed.), Viajes de extranjeros por
Espana y Portugal, p. 115.

106

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

mercenaries, but aside from this it apparently had interest
only in coastal stations. For example, there is no record of
Carthaginian exploitation of the copper of the Alentejo, which
Romans later mined at Aljustrei'" 1 As all of southern Portugal
is poor in tin, silver, and gold, there was little there to distract
them from their preoccupation with such places as Andalusia
and Murcia, except for the profitable fishing for tuna, mackerel,
and other less important species, and the evaporation of salt for
the preparation of fish for export. This was the basis of several
Carthaginian settlements along the Algarvian coast and even
up the west coast to the mouth of the Sado River, 04 One
wonders also if they may not have been interested in certain
aspects of farming on the Algarvian littoral Carthaginians were
good farmers, and although their expeditions were concerned
with commerce primarily, and not with settlement for its own
sake, dried figs had long been an item of their commerce out
of Ibiza. (i5 As figs thrive now in the Algarve and have been
important in its economy through all time for which we have
information, one wonders if the Carthaginians had not added
this item to their list of commercial products by introducing
the tree to southern Portugal.

The events related in this chapter are concerned with the
Mediterranean shores of present Spain, and only slightly with
those of Portugal. During the centuries which have been con-
sidered, commerce and communications were bringing the
southern shores of Iberia in contact with the affairs of the East,
whereas the western coasts of Iberia, the Portuguese coasts,
remained isolated and out of touch with the more advanced
civilizations of the eastern Mediterranean. It is part of a per-

63 Manuel Torres, "La Peninsula hispanica, provincia romana, 218 a,
de J. C.-409 de J. C./' Eistoria de Espana, II, 333. This may also be
due to Carthaginian lack of interest in bronze.

64 Garcia y Bellido, "Colonizacion Piinica/* Historia de Espana, Tomo
I, Vol. II, 385.

65 Ibid. 9 p. 379. However, whatever was the Carthaginian contact with
southern Portugal, it was not sufficient to alter, materially, the indigenous
stratum. A. A. Mendes Correa, Raizes de Portugal (2nd ed.), p. 83.

107

AXCIEXT MEDITEBRANEAN CIVILIZATIONS

sistent pattern of history in Iberia. The character of Spain was
shaped, in part, by the contact with the eastern Mediterranean
lands during the millennium prior to the birth of Christ. Such
contact had little effect upon Portugal.

CHAPTER 8

The Period of Roman Conquest
and Control

CULTURAL UNITY OF THE HUMID FRINGE

1HEN ROME conquered the Iberian peninsula there
was a kinship and a cultural similarity between the
peoples of Aquitaine (present southwest France)
and Cantabria. This was made clear by Caesar and
others. 1 From the Pyrenees to Galicia there were peoples simi-
lar to each other in their ways of life. Strabo said ( and others
bear him out) that all of the people of this northern, moun-
tainous strip of Iberia lived essentially the same sort of life and
had customs that were virtually identical ( Fig. 10 ) . L> It was a
matriarchal, agro-pastoral civilization, the vestiges of which
are still to be found in parts of the region." Farming-and-herd-
ing peoples of this oceanic fringe had been settled in the area
since before the beginning of the first millennium B.C. In spite
of subsequent changes, brought about by incursions of new
peoples ( most of whom had somewhat the same Central Euro-
pean background as that of the earlier arrivals ) , they had main-

1 Julio Caro Baroja, Los Pueblos del Norte de la Peninsula Ib erica, p. 82.

2 Ibid., p. 38. ~ Ibid., p. 205.

109

ROMAX CONQUEST AND CONTROL

Figure 10. Iberian Culture Areas as Delimited by Strabo

tamed an affinity for each other and considerable differences
from the societies of patriarchal herders who occupied most of
the meseta. 4

There is abundant evidence that to the south of present
Galicia, in what is now North Portugal, there was an extension
of many of the same culture attitudes. The intimate, friendly
association of the peoples of the area of present Galicia and
those of the area of the present Minho Province of North Portu-
gal cannot be doubted, for it was difficult to make a clear dis-

4 Ibid., p. 227. See also Chapter 6 on Celtic immigration. It was true
not only when the Romans first knew the territory but also as late as the
twentieth century, according to Abelardo Merino ("El Regionalismo
peninsular y la geografia historical* Boletin de la Real Sociedad Geogrdfica,
LVIII (1916), 293-294): "To all of the zone of Cantabria and Atlantic
to Porto can be applied Murgia's dictum (except for the maritime villas
of Santander) : a life more internal than external with no effect on the
balance of the peninsula . . . through all of its historical experiences it
continues to be 'fishing and agricultural/ in a word 'primitive/

"In vain did foreigners with their pilgrimages try to make Santiago a
cosmopolitan urb. . . . One can not exaggerate Vascocantabrismos,
Asturianismos or Gallegismos."

Figure 11 a. Area of Primitive Granaries

Figure 11 b. Area of the Chilian Cart

Ill

ROMAN CONQUEST AND CONTROL

tinction between them at that time. Calked north of the Minho
River were not of precisely the same tribe as the Callaeci to
the south of the stream, but the two were sufficiently alike in
their ways to be conveniently grouped together for administra-
tive purposes. Caro Baroja has shown by his maps, two of
which are reproduced in Figure II, 5 that several fundamental
culture items were common to all of the north and northwest
fringe of Iberia, down at least to the Douro River. These maps
not only show similarities among the peoples along the humid
fringe but emphasize the differences between the periphery
and the dry meseta in the interior.

Furthermore, there seems to have been a fundamental simi-
larity between the peoples of the area of present North Portu-
gal ( between the Minho and Douro rivers ) and the Lusitanians
in present central Portugal. These Lusitanians probably harked
back to a pre-Celtic period of time in Portugal They were not
descended from Central European peoples of the same stock
as were the agriculturists and pastoralists of the north. Nor, on
the other hand, were they originally Iberians (in the strict
sense ) , although they may represent an Iberian sub-group that
later, but prior to our first record of them, had become Celti-
cized, culturally and perhaps even physically/ 5 They were a
distinct sub-group that lived between the Tejo and Douro rivers,
but had been acculturated and mixed with peoples to the north
of the Douro to such an extent that it was sometimes difficult
to make a neat separation. This was notably so in comparison
with the Callaeci. Silius Italicus distinguished the difference,
but texts and archaeology show them to be difficult to separate
culturally or ethnically. 7

There was, then, a basic cultural similarity among peoples,
extending from present France through northern Spain and
down into Portugal to the Tejo River. This is not to say, how-

5 Caro, Pueblos del Norte, maps 6 and 7, pp. 208 and 210 respectively.

6 A. A. Mendes Correa, "Celtas na Beira, 7 * Boletim da Casa das Beiras,
X (1943), No. 6, 5-11, and "A Lusitania pre-romana," Histaria de
Portugal, I, 182.

7 Mendes CorreX "A Lusitania pre-romana," Historia de Portugal, I ?
183.

112

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

Figure 12. Tribal Divisions in Northwestern Iberia during the
Roman Period

ever, that there were not differences among them, clearly recog-
nized and strongly felt by the tribes themselves. They were in
a sense cousins, rather than brothers. The Lusitanians were
distinct from the Callaeci Bracarenses to the north of the Douro
River (Fig. 12). These latter were divided from the Callaeci
Lucenses to the north of the Minho River, and history and
philology agree that the boundary between the Callaeci and

113

ROMAN CONQUEST AXD CONTROL

the Astures lay along the Xavia River, not far to the east of
the present boundary separating Galicia from Asturias/

With this diversity amid unity it is not surprising that con-
fusion came about in the record of the various writers of the
time. It seems that this was even furthered by the peoples
involved. For example, prior to the campaign of Decimus
Junius Brutus along the west of the peninsula (137 B.C.) the
word "Callaecia" merely referred to a tribal territory, but we
have Strabo's word for the fact that after that time the land
farther south might be suggested by the term as some of the
Lusitanians, impressed with the fame of the Callaeci, took to
using their name/* The Lusitanians under their own name
gained fame somewhat later. Either because of this change in
names by local groups or because of the blending of the various
culturally akin peoples, and also undoubtedly due to confusion
or carelessness on the part of Roman writers, the name Lusi-
tania at times was used for all of the peninsula.

ROMAN ENTRY INTO THE PENINSULA

The Roman advance along the western Mediterranean, like
that of the Greeks, was made, not by plan or with a prede-
termined goal, but by steps taken one at a time as the oppor-
tunity or necessity occurred. In Iberia many steps were forced
upon the Romans, Carthage was a growing rival and was ex-
panding eastward along the Mediterranean. In Iberia when
this advance reached into the northeast, as far as present
Catalonia, the maneuver was obviously threatening to Rome.
The peninsula was a base of supplies, both material and human,
for the Carthaginian armies, and Roman action was mandatory.

The history of contacts between peoples in the peninsula and
Mediterraneans farther to the east contributed to the ease of
Roman entry along the Mediterranean coasts. In the first place

8 Claudio Sanchez Albornoz y Menduina, "Divislones tribales y adminis-
trativas del solar del reino de Asturias en la epoca romana," Boletin de la
Real Academia de la Historia, XCV, No. 1 (July-Sept, 1929), 317.

9 J. Leite de Vasconcellos, Religioes da Lusitdnia, I, xxii.

114

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

Carthage had become Increasingly severe in her demands
especially for levies of troops and Carthaginian popularity
had not been increased by it. On the other hand the peoples of
the urbanized Mediterranean coasts of Spain were thoroughly
acquainted with European Mediterraneans to the east of them.
The Greeks had long been friendly traders and the people of
the Phocaean colony of Massalia had continued to maintain
contact even after the battle of Alalia and the Carthaginian
dominance of Mediterranean waters of Iberia. The Massaliotes
and the Romans recognized a common enemy in Carthage and
struck an alliance as early as 348 B.C. 10 By reason of all of these
conditions the way was opened for the Romans, and they ad-
vanced without difficulty along the littoral in the third century

B.C.

RESISTANCE TO ROMAN CONQUEST

It was with the Celts and the Celticized groups of the in-
terior and west that Rome faced her greatest difficulties. Here,
too, it was more a matter of one step demanding another, than
desire to possess either of these areas, that drove Rome to
further conquest. 11 There is little reason to suppose that either
the bleak meseta or most of the remote west had any attraction
for the Romans. The sanguinary battles with the Celtiberians
on the one hand and the Lusitanians on the other were not
worth the cost in terms of the territory involved. The fact was
that these dissident peoples were a threat to Roman control of
the Mediterranean regions and they had to be subdued.

In the non-Mediterranean areas the Romans were not dealing
with essentially peaceful, urbanized folk of the kind that were
known along the Mediterranean shores. Both the Celts of the
interior and, especially, the Celticized hill folk of the west were
of a different stamp. They were anything but complacent with

10 Antonio Garcia y Bellido, Elspania Graeca, I, 238.

11 Except for gold in the northwest Juan Maluquer de Motes, "Los
Pueblos de la Espana celtica," Historia de Espana, Tomo I, Vol. Ill, Pt. 1,
79.

115

ROMAN CONQUEST AND CONTROL

regard to Roman assumption of authority over them. They were
a bellicose lot, famous for their interest in physical exploits, and
were reputed to like fighting their neighbors better than culti-
vation of the soil 12 That they felt themselves to be different
from the city people of the Mediterranean slope is made mani-
fest by their resistance to the Romans. Viriathus was the most
flamboyant among them and had a quality of leadership fitting
to his opportunities. But the spectacular sweep of Lusitanian
armies under his command across the width of Iberia, decimat-
ing Roman legions on their way, was not inspired by their
leader; it was not forced upon his people; nor was it the achieve-
ment of mercenaries. Rather it represented the upsurge of an
independent group of strong character that had found an effec-
tive leader. This dire threat to Roman control of the peninsula
was averted by hiring the assassination of Viriathus. Whatever
one may feel about the judgment and the deed, he must recog-
nize that it was effective of the end it sought. There was no
comparable leader among the Lusitanians, and opposition, al-
though continued, was dogged rather than aggressive. The
remnants of the Lusitanian forces withdrew in separate, small
groups to the castros of the rural northwest and maintained
resistance for several generations. 1 '"

It was this sort of danger that forced the Romans to continue
their conquest to the last remote outposts. The quality of the
land, except for the lower Tejo valley and parts of the littoral,
was of small attraction to them. In the rural northwest there
were gold sands, but little else to catch their interest. Yet it
was obvious that rebellious remnants, with a history of trucu-
lence and raiding of settled places, could not be tolerated by
imperial Rome. However, the reduction of the territory was
far more difficult than Rome could have suspected at first. It
took more than a century and a half, compared with seven
years for the conquest of all of Gaul. 14

13 A. A. Mendes Corr&a, "A Ltisitania pre-romana," Historia de Portu-
gal I, 191-192.

13 Vergilio Correia, "O Dominio Romana," Historia de Portugal, I, 218.

14 Ibid,, p. 217.

116

THE INBI\TDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

CONQUEST AND SETTLEMENT OF THE WEST

The Consul Declmus Junius Brutus, after fortifying Lisbon,
advanced to the north, destroying settlements as he went. He
established a fortified position at Viseu, crossed the Douro
River, and reached the Lima River by 137 B.C. 15 Ultimately,
according to Strabo, he conquered to the Minho River. 1 * At the
end of his campaigns, Rome controlled the territory between
the Douro and Minho rivers plus probable extensions along the
coast and in the interior. 17 It was only under Augustus, how-
ever, at the last of the first century B.C. that present North
Portugal and Galicia were fully pacified and put under Roman
control. The cities of Asturica Augusta (Astorga) and Bracara
Augusta (Braga) were then founded. To the south, Emerita
Augusta (Merida) was settled in 25 B.C. with the emeriti of
the fifth and tenth legions. It became the capital of Roman
Lusitania, that is, the territory lying between the Tejo and
Douro rivers and extending eastward to present Talavera de
la Reina.

Roads were built to connect these and other settlements, in
order to maintain firm control of this long-resistant area. 18 Villas
were established. These large estates, rather like plantations in
the New World of a later time, had the necessary structures
and retainers grouped around the manor house. 19 Many of the
names of these Roman villas have persisted until now as names
of parishes or small towns. The quintas, the large and middle-
sized properties of present northwest Portugal, perhaps repre-
sent subdivisions of the villa. 20 The total number of Romans

p. 218.

16 Francisco Jose Velozo, "A Lusitania Suevico-Bizantina," Bracara
Augusta, II, No. 2 (July, 1950), 118; No. 3 (Oct., 1950), 221-256;
No. 4 (Feb., 1951), 389-402; IV, Nos. 1-3 (Dec., 1952), 46-69.

17 Casimiro Torres, "Limites geograficos de Galicia en los siglos IV y
V," Cuadernos de Estudios Gattegos, IV, No. 14 (1949), 367-368.

18 See A. de Amorim Girao, Geografia de Portugal, map facing p. 366,
for Roman roads.

19 Velozo, "A Lusitania Suevico-Bizantina," Bracara Augusta, II, No. 2
(July, 1950), 151.

20 Antonio Jorge Dias, Os Arados Portugueses e as suas provdveis
origens, p. 117.

117

ROMAN CONQUEST AND CONTROL

settled in the north was comparatively small, for this rainy,
forested country was not to their taste. Compared to the rest
of Iberia, it was Romanized late and poorly. 21 The south of
Portugal, Mediterranean Portugal, was somewhat more to their
liking. 22 This was sunny country, wheat country, good for olives
and grapes. Evora, of the Alentejo, became known to them
as Cerealis, a place of obvious attraction to the wheat-eating
Romans.

ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS

In the control of the west, Rome did not set up divisions
contrary to previous tribal and cultural arrangement, except
for reasons of military strategy or police requirements/ 2 ' The
administrative organization of Roman Lusitania was ethnically
reasonable if not perfect. It grouped together people with fun-
damentally similar attitudes and values. 24 The province of Tar-
raconensis, extending in a broad band across all of the north and
including most of the east of the peninsula, was an exception to
this policy. It included greatly disparate culture groups. The
Romans realized the awkwardness of the arrangement and tried
on several occasions to remedy the matter by establishing
borders more in keeping with ethnic distribution. But they
faced a twofold problem. Administration boundaries suitable
to tribal (that is, cultural) boundaries conduced to smooth
operation of control, and wherever possible the Romans fol-
lowed this precept. 25 However, in dealing with belligerent sub-
jugated peoples, the matter of military strategy took primacy
over all other considerations. This fundamental conflict be-

21 Claudio Sanchez Albornoz y Menduina, Ruina y extincion del munici-
pio romano en Espana e instituciones que le reemplazan, p. 118.
-- DIas, Arados, p. 103.

23 Antonio Jorge Dias, Rio de Onor, p. 56.

24 Exception here could clearly be taken to the inclusion of the Conies
of the Algarve. However, they were a small group, inhabiting a small
territory. Obviously Rome could not establish administrative subdivisions
for each minor group.

25 Velozo, "A Lusitania Suevico-Bizantina/* Bracara Augusta, II, No. 2
(July, 1950), 126.

118

THE INDIMDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

tween civil and military control was nowhere more evident
than in the northwest of Iberia.

The first division of the country under Augustus put all of
northwest Iberia into the province of Lusitania.-" Later, prob-
ably between the years 15 and 1 B.C., the area down to the
Douro, that is, inclusive of present North Portugal, was put
under the control of Citerior Spain, which later became the
Tarraconensis Province. This military device was made neces-
sary by the administrative insecurity of the remote, intransi-
gent, newly conquered province. 27 It obviously was not satis-
factory, and Tiberius made a separate unit of approximately
the territory of present Galicia and Asturias. 28 Later Caracalla
set up other boundaries for a short-lived northwestern province
under the governor, Cerealis.'-"' 3

It seemed impossible to arrange the exterior boundaries of
the province satisfactorily for both the people of the area and
for the Roman government. In setting the boundaries of the
subdivisions within the province, difficulty was mostly avoided
by equating such limits with the culture groups affected. The
territory of the Callaeci Lucenses (Fig. 12) became, with but
slight difference, the Roman judicial district (Conventus luri-
dicus) centered upon Lucus Augusti (Lugo) which included
approximately the present territory of the Spanish province of
Galicia. The territory of the Callaeci Bracarenses fitted well to
the judicial district centered upon Bracara Augusta (Braga)."
It foreshadowed the modem North Portugal.

26 C. Torres, "Limites geograficos . . . ," Cuadernos de Estudios Gal-
legos, IV, No. 14 (1949), 371.

27 Ibid.., p. 372; Claudlo Sanchez Albornoz y Menduina, "Divisiones
tribales y administrativas del solar del reino de Asturias en la epoca
romana," Boletin de la Real Academia de la Historia, XCV No 1 (Julv-
Sept, 1929), 377.

28 C. Torres, "Limites geograficos ...,** Cuadernos de Estudios Gal-
legos, IV, No. 14 (1949), 372.

29 Sanchez Albomoz, "Divisiones tribales ...,** Boletin de la Real
Academia de la Historia, XCV, No. 1 (July-Sept., 1929), 384.

30 In fact, the boundaries of the Roman judicial districts fit nicely with
the present national boundaries of Portugal. Velozo, "A Lusitania Suevico-
Bizantina/' Bracara Augusta, II, No. 2 (July, 1950), 126; Antonio Garcia
y Bellido, La Peninsula Iberica en los comienzos de su historia, p. 393.

119

ROMAN CONQUEST AND CONTROL

EFFECT UPON SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC LIFE

The Romans had certain fixations with regard to organiza-
tion and ways of life. They effectively imposed their language
upon the peninsula. Their code of law was applied. Changes
were made in ways of living where it seemed necessary to
administration. The hilltop dwellers of the northwest were
largely transferred to the bottom lands. This was presumably
done to eliminate raiding. By this action, however, an even
more fundamental change was made in society. Present infor-
mation indicates that men had taken, at best, a casual interest
in agriculture. That had been woman's work, to be done with
the hoe. In the bottom lands the problem was completely dif-
ferent, for not only was plow agriculture possible but it was
obviously a superior mode of operation. Furthermore, the
heavier sods of the bottom lands are harder to cut than those
of the hill lands and probably offered a real obstacle to the
hoe. Perhaps of greater importance was the invariable associa-
tion of men with the care and use of animals. With the intro-
duction of the draft animal into agriculture men were immedi-
ately involved. Being involved, however, does not necessarily
mean that they took to it whole-heartedly.

Even today the transfer of responsibility seems not to have
been complete. This is shown by the fact that in Galicia and
in the Minho of Portugal there is little distinction between the
duties of men and women in the fields. In Galicia, women may
perform any of the tasks (although rarely plowing). In the
Minho, one is told that the heavier tasks go to the men, but
this usually means merely that the job involving the use of
an animal is a male responsibility, whereas other tasks, seem-
ingly as heavy, are accomplished by women. In the bottom
lands, where agriculture with plowmen became fundamental,
raiding was eliminated, and the importance of herding was
reduced.

All of this altered the social structure in the area. Formerly
it had been based fundamentally on extended family units.
Each castro had been an individual autarchy, with collective

120

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

occupancy of the land. This was changed with the Roman in-
troduction of individual ownership of the land. 31

The changes in Iberia effected by the Romans were not only
great but also lasting, This resulted partly from the fact that
the Romans were dealing, in many areas, with peoples who
had "Mediterranean" ways not too different from those of the
Romans themselves. Rome's troubles in the conquest and paci-
fication of the interior and remote exterior areas of Iberia came
from the bellicose Celtic or Celticized peoples, who were not
"Mediterranean" in their points of view. Ultimately, however,
Rome brought all of the dissidents to heel, and, through social
and economic organization, as well as consideration for cultural
differences where they did not interfere with administration,
made the peninsula an effective unit in the empire.

31 Dias, Arados, p. 103. It eliminated much of the primitive collec-
tivism, but not all. Traces are still to be found in northwest Spain and
in northern Portugal. See Caro, Pueblos del Norte, p. 45, and Dias Rio
de Onor, especially Chapters V and VI, and Vilarinho da Furna, especially
Chapters IV and VI.

Even with Roman efficiency the castro was not entirely eliminated as
a fort and place of resistance, for in 430 A.D. when the Swabians "deso-
lated" the interior of Galicia the local inhabitants defended themselves
in strong cast el-forts. Manuel Torres ["Las Invasiones y los Reinos
Germanicos de Espafia (Anos 409-711),"] Historia de Espana, III, 27;
Velozo, 4< A Lusitania Suevico-Bizantina," Bracara Augusta, II, No. 3
(Oct., 1950), 249.

CHAPTER 9

The Germanic Conquest

N THE EARLY fifth century the weakening Roman
Empire relinquished power in Iberia to the migrating
Germanic peoples who entered the peninsula, not with
the intent of replacing Roman power, but in a search
for lands upon which to settle. 1 Nevertheless, absolute power
was ultimately theirs. Partly it fell into their laps from the
debile hands of the Romans; partly, it came as a result of their
changed attitude after Roman weakness became obvious. Ulti-
mately the assumption of complete authority was a clearly
indicated, easy step for them to take.

DIFFERENCES AMONG GERMAN TRIBES

To say that the Germans 2 took power should not imply that
the exercise of it was everywhere the same, for these migrants

1 F. Newton de Macedo, "O Dominio Germanico,** Historia de Portu-
gal, I, 313.

2 The word "Germans'* will be used instead of "German peoples'* to
avoid the awkwardness of the latter phrase, even though the usage may
not be precisely accurate. It makes no major distortion of fact.

122

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

from Central Europe were not homogeneous in culture. One
must be wary of the term "German" in such a context, for the
Germans, In fact, differed greatly among themselves. It is help-
ful in understanding the most fundamental of the differences
to distinguish between eastern and western Germans. The Visi-
goths and Vandals were eastern Germans, whereas the Swab-
ians came from the west. Another tribe, not German at all but
ultimately derived from the region of the Caucasus, \vas that of
the Alans/ 5 who accompanied the Germans in their migration
into Iberia. After battles in which they were decimated by
Visigoths, their remnants finally merged with the Vandals and
they left Iberia at the same time as the Vandals.

An important distinction is to be made between western and
eastern Germans in terms of their attitudes toward the land.
Although both were at once agriculturists and herders, the east-
erners were predominantly pastoralists/ whereas the western-
ers paid greater attention to farming. For example, the Visi-
goths were primarily dependent upon herding, although they
were never Ignorant of agriculture. This, presumably, was the
result of their migration from northern Europe southeastward
to the area near the Black Sea, several centuries before their
move Into Iberia. It was on the grazing lands near the Black
Sea that they developed the complex of herding and agriculture
which, blended with the attitudes and techniques that they had
acquired through propinquity to the Roman Empire, gave them
their character. At the time of their entry into the Iberian pen-
insula they were known to be the most Romanized of the bar-
barians. It was for this reason that the Romans selected them to
protect Roman interests against the other Germans.

The Swabians were western Germans and very different in
their attitudes from the eastern Visigoths. They had long oc-
cupied Saxony and Thuringia and had early gone south, where
they had come in contact with the Helvetians ( Celts ) near the
Main River. So in the centuries just prior to the Christian era,

s Joseph M. Piel, Os Nomes germdnicos na toponimia portuguesa, p. 5.
4 Ludwig Schmidt, "Teutonic Kingdoms in Gaul," Cambridge Medieval
History, I, 287.

123

THE GERMANIC CONQUEST

the ways of Germans and Celts were blended and the two
groups shared a common culture. 5

Although Tacitus said that the Swablans thought it more
honorable to fight than to harvest, and that they left the farm
work to the w r omen and the old men/ 5 he is also our authority
for the fact that they had a cult of "mother earth." ' Reminis-
cent of the early Celts in Iberia, the Swabians were both farm-
ers and fighters. There was a division of labor, so that women
accomplished most of the farming, while the major attention of
the men was focused upon care of the animals and fighting.
Notwithstanding their taste for fighting and raiding, they were
rooted in the soil. For Tacitus and others to call attention to
Swabian truculence and taste for war is natural in a writer, but
it distorts the facts, nevertheless. One must be wary of writers
when they deal with simple peoples and humble pursuits. As
long as the account of human activities has been written, the
concern has been almost exclusively with dramatic events,
while the undramatic but abiding bases of culture are apt to
be overlooked. Warfare, weapons, and cities call attention to
themselves, whereas peace, agriculture, and the simple ways of
the countryside often escape notice. The great contribution
that the Swabians made to Portugal was in the use of the land.

The effect of this has been durable. It was they who intro-
duced the Central European quadrangular plow into northwest
Iberia/ These Central Europeans had a preference for the
north and northwest of Iberia with its mild summers and with
rainfall throughout all or most of the year. The climate was
suitable to their crops, as was the natural vegetation to their
animals. They found here a more propitious type of the same
kind of environment which they had known previously in Cen-
tral Europe. They brought to the area techniques and attitudes
similar to those of its previous exploiters and well suited to its

5 Martin Bang, "Expansion of the Teutons (to A.D. 378)," Cambridge
Medieval History, I, Chap. VII.

f> Francisco Jose Velozo, "A Lusitania Suevico-Bizantina/* Bracara
Augusta, II, No. 2 (July, 1950), 152.

7 Ibid., p. 137.

8 Jorge Dias, Os Arados Portugueses e as suas pr&odveis origens, p. 129.

124

THE INDIMDUAUTY OF PORTUGAL

further development. Much of the basis of living in present
Galicia and North Portugal is a direct inheritance from the
Swabian period of dominance. It differed sharply from atti-
tudes and customs dominant In the meseta? and toponymy
Illustrates the contrast. As Castllian is rich in martial terms,
Galician is rich In agricultural words and the number of local
terms associated with agriculture is greater in Galicia than in
any other part of Spain. The evidence for this has been col-
lected only for Galicia, the northern part of the former Swabian
kingdom, but one can reasonably Infer that this judgment made
by a Galician concerning Galicia can also be applied to the
southern part of the kingdom, present North Portugal. 10

THE SPREAD AND ASSUMPTION OF POWER
BY THE GERMANS IN IBERIA

The Swablans, Vandals, and Alans crossed the Pyrenees in
408 or 409 A. D. 11 Within two years, parts of them had spread to
the western edge of the peninsula and lands had been appor-
tioned to each tribe. If difficulties were made either by the
local inhabitants or by the local Roman administration, there is

no record of it. In the statement of an early document, the areas

y

originally apportioned to these tribes were assigned by lot. 12
This may have been the fact, and it may have been fortuitous
circumstance that placed the Swabians, by 411 A. D., in lands
that were eminently to their taste, but it seems a little hard to
believe. It is more likely that the Swabians, who later clung to
these lands with determination, chose them. In fact, there is

9 Ramon Menendez Pidal in La Espana del Cid, p. 56, says that
Cantabria and Vasconia were always hostile to Visigothic Toledo.

10 Jose Ramon and Fernandez Oxea, "Toponimias agricolas gallegas,"
Cuadernos de Estudios Gdlegos, V, No. 16 (1950), 221-222. National
barriers frequently impede scholars from encompassing all of a logical
area of study.

11 Manuel Torres, "Las Invasiones y los Reinos Germam'cos de Espana
(Anos 409-711)," Historia de Espana, III, 21.

12 Rel, Nomes gerrndnicos, p. 5; Schmidt, "Teutonic Kingdoms in
Gaul," Cambridge Medieval History, I, 304.

125

THE GERMANIC CONQUEST

some reason to believe that they did so, and later, compelled by
the more powerful Vandals, had to relinquish a portion of
them. 13 The Alans, at that time the strongest of the tribes, took
a large area in the center and south, approximately the area of
Roman Lusitania. The Silingian Vandals settled to the south-
east of the Alans, and the Asdingian Vandals were in interior
Galicia next to the Swabians. 14

In 415, when the Visigoths entered, at the behest of Rome, 13
the peninsula was at peace. 16 By this time the Swabians had
been in the northwest for six years, as had been the Alans and
Vandals in their allotted areas. They had settled among the
local Luso-Roinans, who may have welcomed them and who at
least offered no effective opposition to their settlement. The
Luso-Romans apparently preferred "barbarian" control to the
onerous pecuniary demands of the central Roman govern-
ment. 17 There was no major opposition to the Swabians until
the advent of the Visigoths who, allied with Rome, entered the
peninsula, supposedly to re-establish Roman authority.

The Visigoths met and decisively defeated an army of Alans
and Silingian Vandals in 416. After that, neither of these tribes
was to be reckoned with in peninsular affairs. 18 Their remnants
were ultimately absorbed by the Asdingian Vandals who, like
the Swabians, were settled in a remote corner of the peninsula,
Presumably the fact of their geographical position saved these
two tribes from the fate of their quondam companions, but it
did not keep them at peace, for warfare broke out almost im-

13 Velozo, "A Lusitania Suevico-Bizantina/* Bracara Augusta, II, No. 2
(July, 1950), 242.

14 Torres, "Las Invasiones y los Reinos Germanicos de Espana," Historia
de Espana, III, 22; Schmidt, "Teutonic Kingdoms in Gaul/* Cambridge
Medieval History, I, 304; Velozo, "A Lusit&nia Suevico-Bizantina," Bracara
Augusta, II, No. 2 (July, 1950), 144.

15 Macedo, "O Dominio Gerrnanico," Historia de Portugal, I, 309.

16 Velozo, "A Lusitania Suevico-Bizantina/* Bracara Augusta, II, No. 2
(July, 1950), 144.

17 Ibid., p. 143.

18 Torres, "Las Invasiones y los Reinos Germanicos de Espana," Historia
de Espana, III, 22.

127

THE GERMANIC CONQUEST

mediately between them. In 419 the Swabians were driven into
the northern mountains by the Vandals and only Roman inter-
vention saved them from extermination. 18 It is apparent that
Rome did not think of all German tribes as being of the same
stamp.

Not long after this event, the Asdingian Vandals, presumably
dissatisfied with their environment in the northwest and under
pressure by Romans and Visigoths, moved southward to join
the remnants of the Silingians and the Alans. From there they
went to Africa. Whether they went there by their own inspira-
tion, or by the invitation of the Roman governor, is a disputed
question. Boniface, the governor, was in difficulties with Rome
at the time and there is reason to believe that he may have
induced these fighters to aid him by the promise of territory. 20
On the other hand, Africa was an area of famed productivity 21
and was country far more to the taste of the Vandals than the
rainy northwest of Iberia. Nor was this the first time that east
Germans had evinced an interest in Africa. When in Italy, the
Goths had planned to go there; again later, when they reached
Cadiz, they went so far as to build a fleet to transport them-
selves thither and were diverted only by the destruction of
their ships in a storm. 22 With the departure of the Vandals and
the remnants of the Alans for Africa in 429, the most im-
portant Germans left in Iberia were the Swabians and the
Visigoths. 23

VlSIGOTHIC VERSUS SwABIAN SETTLEMENT IN IBERIA

The Visigoths showed their taste for grazing country and
settled by choice in the meseta, allowing the formerly prosper-

19 Loc. tit.; Schmidt, "Teutonic Kingdoms in Gaul," Cambridge Medi-
eval History, I, 304.

20 Macedo, "O Dominio Germanico," Historm de Portugal, I, 315,

21 Torres, "Las Invasiones y los Reinos Germanicos de Espaiia," Historia
de Espana, III, 22.

22 Macedo, "O Dominio Germanico," Historia de Portugal, I, 312.

23 I&idL, p. 315.

129

THE GERMANIC CONQUEST

ous peripheries to languish. Coastal cities declined in impor-
tance, while a few uneseta cities grew. Cartago Xova was
relinquished as the capital in favor of Toledo. Cadiz faded
almost completely as Mediterranean commerce declined/ 24 The
bleak central land, unattractive even to Romans, was good
pasture land and attractive to Visigoths. Even less than the
Mediterranean fringes did the humid lands under the grey skies
of North Portugal and Galicia appeal to them. Only a few
individual Visigoths ever stayed to settle there/ 25

How different were the attitudes of the Swabians* They
chose to settle in the rainy, green Minho of North Portugal and
in Galicia, and clung to it. They had come from an area in Ger-
many very similar to it in climate, vegetation, and opportuni-
ties for farming and grazing. The Swabians had had contact
with Celts to their south in Central Europe and with the
Romans throughout centuries of time. Many Swabians had
served in Roman armies. 26 They had absorbed techniques and
ways of life from both peoples. It was this combined culture
that they brought with them into northwest Iberia. It fitted
neatly into the patterns of use and wont of the area, which had
been submitted earlier to both Celtic and Roman and prob-
ably some German influences. The effect of this is brought
out by the fact that in the sixth century, A. D., toward the end
of the period of the Swabian kingdom in the northwest, after
nearly two centuries of Swabian tenure, the Minho was the
best organized and developed of all of the parts of northwest
Iberia. 27

Braga, situated in a fertile valley in the central Minho, had

24 Antonio Dominguez Ortiz, "La Poblacion espanola a lo largo de
nuestra historia," Boletin de la Real Sociedad Geogrdfica, LXXXVI, Nos.
4-6 (April-June, 1950), 266.

25 Velozo, "A Lusitania Suevico-BIzantina," Bracara Augusta, II, No. 2
(July, 1950), 150.

26 Torres, "Las Invasiones y los Reinos Germanicos de Espana," Historia
de Espana, III, 18-19.

27 Pierre David, Etudes historiques sur la Gdice et le Portugal du VI*
au XIII* sticle, p. 118.

131

THE GERMANIC CONQUEST

been the Roman provincial capital and the ecclesiastical metrop-
olis. Roads led into it from the south, north, and east. Its
tradition of authority, its communications and, above all, its
storehouse quality, recommended it to the Swabians, who made
It their capital at the outset. They never relinquished it as their
center, even at the time of their one great expansionist burst
which carried them across the width of the peninsula and into
southern France. 2 " It not only had the virtues that had served
the Romans but for the Swabians it was central to the core of
their kingdom, which extended from the Bay of Biscay on the
north, to the Douro River on the south, and from the Atlantic
Ocean on the west to the Sierra de Ranadoiro, in present As-
turias on the east, that is, approximately the present Portuguese
province of the Minho plus the present Spanish province of
Galicia. If the Swabians made thrusts farther east into Asturias
thev did not remain to control it. 29

TRANSITIONAL MIDDLE PORTUGAL

The area to the south of the Douro River is transitional
physically. Through most of recorded time this fact has been
reflected in the culture, for it has exhibited an intermingling of
northern and southern culture types. Perhaps the transitional
nature of the area is well indicated by the fact that the four
dioceses of Lamego, Coimbra, Viseu, and Idanha, during the
centuries of Germanic kingdoms in Iberia, did not clearly be-
long to either the north or the south. The fact that control
shifted back and forth between the Metropolitans of Merida
and Braga points to the lack of clear orientation. 30 S\vabian
control and influence came into the area, but not completely or
even dominantly. At times, their control speared through this

28 Torres, "Las Invasiones y los Reinos Germanicos de Espana," Historia
de Espana, III, 31; Velozo, "A Lusitania Suevico-Bizantina," Bracara
Augusta, II, No. 3 (Oct., 1950), 248-249.

29 Julio Caro Baroja, Los Pueblos del Norte de la Peninsula iMrica,
p. 109.

30 Pierre David, Etudes historiques sur la Galice et le Portugal du VI e
au Xlll e si&cle, pp. 19-20.

133

THE GERMANIC CONQUEST

central region to the Tejo River :;1 and perhaps even beyond,
but this was temporary and the effects were not lasting. *

THE SWABIAN LAND SYSTEM

Where the Swabians were dominant, the record of their pres-
ence remains even today in the types of land holdings. Tacitus,
speaking of German settlements, said that they were unlike the
Roman, which had contiguous structures, whereas the Swab-
ians built houses with an "empty space" about each one: 1 - That
is to say, the Swabians were accustomed to small holdings. The
idea of dispersed, small, privately owned farms probably was
their contribution to the northwest of Iberia, which had pre-
viously known the collectivism of the castros and the large,
private estates of the Romans. Today the area of their early
kingdom, the Minho of Portugal and Galicia of Spain, is a land
of small proprietors, whereas the country south of the Douro,
where their influence was attenuated, shows a reflection of this
fact in present land holdings. The region south of the Tejo,
where the Swabian influence was virtually absent, is the area
of greatest concentration of large estates.

The Swabians, however, were not less than human. In the
areas under their control, favored individuals took over Roman
villas and even established new villas of their own. So there
were large estates for a few individuals, even though the area,
then as now, was predominantly that of small owners.

PERSISTENCE OF ROMAN INSTITUTIONS

During the period of Swabian dominance the Roman adminis-
trative structure was not eliminated, nor were other important
institutions, such as the church. Even during the periods of

31 Francisco Jose Velozo, "Contribiii^ao Luso-Galaica para a recon-
quista," Mima, I y No. 2 (May, 1945), 103. See also Abelardo Merino,
"El RegionaHsmo peninsular y la geografia historica," Boletin de la Real
Sociedad Geogrdfica, LVIII (1916), 291.

32 Velozo, "A Lusitania Suevico-Bizantina," Bracara Augusta, II, No. 2
(July, 1950), 151, 154.

135

THE GERMANIC CONQUEST

their paganism or heretical inclinations, they showed considera-
tion for the ecclesiastical authorities, allowing them to function
with freedom. For example, Idatius, the Bishop of Aquae Fla-
viae ( Chaves ) protested bitterly against what he thought to be
Swabian perfidy. He went to Gaul to complain about it, and
returned to this Swabian territory to protest loudly and bitterly
all with impunity. 3 " The conversion of the Swabian Rechi-
arius, subsequently king, to Catholicism (probably in 447
A. D.), over fifty years prior to that of Clovis, must also indicate
that there was great freedom of action for the church and
sympathetic support by the Swabian authorities." 4

If the northwest was tolerant of orthodox Catholicism, it was
also willing to listen to other doctrines; it was a stronghold of
Manichaean heresy. 35 It was probably the birthplace of Pris-
cillian, and certainly the great center of Priscillian heresy,
which actually was less heresy than merely asceticism. What-
ever it was, the idea swept through the peninsula in the fourth
century. By the year 400, all of the Galician bishops except two
were Priscillianists and Braga was the headquarters of the dis-
sent, but by 563 it had virtually disappeared as a publicly held
creed, almost two centuries after Priscillian himself had been
burned alive at Treves (in 385 or 386) for his heresy."

Orthodox Catholicism became official under the rule of Rech-
iarius. Seventeen years later the superficiality of the conversion
was demonstrated by Swabian acceptance of the Arian creed
as part of an international marriage agreement arranged by
Theodoric, the Visigothic king, and Remismund, the king of
the Swabians. 37 Arianism, too, was dropped after the middle of
the century, when the orthodox belief was accepted again, this

33 IfczU, No. 3 (Oct., 1950), 250-252; No. 4 (Feb., 1951), 398.

34 Sergio Silva Pinto, "O Bispo de Braga, Balconio e a primeira con-
versao dos Suevos," Braga, Boletim do Arquivo Municipal, I, No. 13
(Dec., 1949), 407-416; also Velozo, "A Lusitania Suevico-Bizantina,"
Bracara Augusta, II, No. 2 (July, 1950), 250.

35 Velozo, "A Lusitania Suevico-Bizantina," Bracara Augusta, II, No. 4
(Feb., 1951), 397.

36 H. V. Livermore, A History of Portugal, pp. 13-14.

37 Torres, "Las Invasiones y los Reinos Germanicos de Espana," Historia
de Espana, III, 37.

136

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

time permanently, about thirty years earlier than the decision
of the Visigoths to accept Catholicism." 6

The Minho Province of North Portugal appears immediately
as distinct from all other provinces of Portugal. It resembles
only one other part of the peninsula, Galicia, which, with the
present Minho, formed the great bulk of the Swabian kingdom.
Certainly the landscapes of the formerly Swabian lands have a
personality immediately apparent. More than this, their per-
sonality is felt to be even more impressive when one lives in
the area and observes the quality of life that in so many ways
is to be credited to the Germanic folk.

35 Ibid., p. 39.

CHAPTER 10

F

WWW

Moslem Domination

VISIGOTHIC DECLINE

OR ALMOST two centuries, until 585 A.D., the
Swabians maintained their kingdom in the northwest,
while the Visigoths controlled the remainder of the
peninsula. The Swabian area was remote, obscure
country, as it has been throughout virtually all of its history,
and the Visigoths had little interest in it. This is perhaps fit-
tingly expressed by the letter of Braulius of Saragossa to St.
Fructuosus of Braga: "Do not think yourself worthy of scorn
because you are relegated to the extremity of the west in an
ignorant country, as you say, where naught is heard but the
sound of tempests, . . ." l Near the end of the sixth century the
Visigoths, hard-pressed by rebellious Swabians, removed that
thorn in their sides by putting an end to Swabian independ-
ence. The little kingdom, which had occupied but a small part
of the Iberian peninsula, was absorbed by the Visigothic state.
Actually, the ways of life in the northwest were little altered
by this fact except for whatever involvement it caused in the
devious and violent politics of Toledo. For the most part, inso-

1 H. V. Livermore, A History of Portugal, p. 25.

138

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

far as there is a record of the matter, the remote west was not
greatly involved in the bloody, feudal struggle, always near the
surface in Visigothic affairs.

By the year 711, the condition of affairs within the Iberian
Peninsula was such that the success of almost any well-organ-
ized body of men bent upon conquest was a foregone conclu-
sion. It should be a surprise to no one that it occurred, but
perhaps one might wonder why it had not occurred some time
earlier. The incredibly easy Moslem conquest of the whole
peninsula, except for small areas in the northwest undesirable
to Africans, can be explained only in part by their fervor and
organization. The Visigothic kingdom had been dreadfully
pauperized, materially and in spirit, by the continuous internal
conflict between king and nobles or between Catholicism,
Arianism, and the Jews. 2 Added to this confusion was a general
restiveness, due to the gradual disappearance of small prop-
erties. Such change and its accompanying economic maladjust-
ment had been brought about by the necessary grouping
around feudal strongholds in times of persistent warfare. 3

The immediate cause of Moslem entry into Iberia and its
original success was due to the bitterness engendered when the
Visigothic nobles rejected the claims of the family of King
Vitiza to hereditary rights. Rebelling against the decision of the
nobles, the Vitiza party probably by the intervention of Arch-
bishop Oppa, brother of Vitiza invited Tarik, the leader of the
Moslem forces, to land on the Iberian shore to fight in their
cause. Rodrigo, the Visigothic king, not realizing the facts of
the situation, entrusted two wings of Ms army to Oppa and to
Oppa's brother, Sisbert. Sanguine because of the numerical
superiority of his forces, Rodrigo confidently entered the battle,
only to be betrayed by Oppa and Sisbert. 4

2 The Byzantine conquest of the south may have been possible because
of this.

s F. Newton de Macedo, "O Dominio Germanico," Historia de Portu-
gal I, 340, 342.

4 Manuel Torres, "Las Invasiones y los Reinos Germanicos de Espana
(Anos 409-711)," Historia de Espana, III, 138.

139

MOSLEM DOMINATION

MOSLEM CONQUEST

Tarik, with his relatively small army made up of Berbers,
swept through the country virtually without opposition, reach-
ing probably as far as southern Asturias, from where he with-
drew to the south to meet Muca, the governor of Africa. Muca
came with an army made up mostly of Arabs. 1 ' Neither he nor
the Arabs in Africa wanted to miss the opportunities beckon-
ing to them in Iberia. Tarik and Mua made a second sweep
through the interior of the peninsula, reaching Astorga where
Tarik turned back, while Muya continued on to Lugo in present
Galicia.*

The Moslems were amazed by the ease with which they were
able to sweep through the peninsula in the first years of their
conquest. However, after the first shock was over Christian
groups in various parts of the peninsula planned and attempted
revolts, especially in the west. In 713 a rebellion in Seville was
aided by the people of Beja, who had received fugitives from
the first conquest of Seville. 7 The revolt was quickly quelled
and the Moslems extended their victorious advance through the
Alentejo of present southern Portugal. By 715, another Moslem
commander, Abde Alazis, had conquered Evora, Salacia,
(Alcacer do Sal), and Egitania (Idanha a Velha). Lisbon had
acceded apparently without a struggle. (Many times in its
history Lisbon has decided that discretion was the better part
of valor.) In 716 Abde Alazis pressed into central Portugal,
where he took Coimbra. Continuing farther to the north he
entered the present Minho Province. It was here, at the Douro
River, that he met the first of a series of intransigent cities.
Portucale (Porto) and then Braga, Tuy, Orense, and Lugo
tried to oppose him. Their attempts were penalized by the
destruction of the settlements. 8

5 David Lopes, "O Dominio Arabe," Historic de Portugal, I, 393.

6 Claudio Sanchez Albornoz y Menduina, La Espafia Musulmana, I,
map facing p. 42. Also his "Itinerant) de la conquista por los musul-
manes," Cuadernos de Historia de Espafia, X, 39, 43-45, 51-55, 57, 64, 69.

7 Francisco Jose Velozo, "Contribiii^ao Luso-Gakica para a recon-
quista," Minia, I, No. 2 (May, 1945), 108.

8 Francisco Jose Velozo, "Ainda a contribiiigao Luso-Galaica para a

140

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

The rebellious cities represented a spirit, rather than prep-
aration. Certainly their resistance gave little pause to the sweep
of conquest, but it was a harbinger of tilings to come. The
northwest was not only psychologically constituted to resist the
African invaders but and this was of much greater importance
it was geographically distant from the center of Moslem
strength.

LANDS UNWANTED BY MOSLEMS

Furthermore and also of fundamental importance it is not
the kind of country and climate to attract either Arabs or Ber-
bers. Of all the regions of Iberia this probably would be the
least attractive to them. It is the rainiest lowland area of the
peninsula (Fig. 6). That they had little or no interest in it is
indicated by a diploma of Ordono II, of the 29th of January,

915 A. D,, which states that the territory of the diocese of Iria

7 *

that is, all or most of the present province of La Coruiia, plus a
contiguous band of Pontevedra was never occupied by Mos-
lems, although there had been some thrusts into it. The same
fact is borne out by the Chronicle of Alfonso III, which ex-
cludes Iria Flavia in the enumeration of the cities taken from
the Moslems by Alfonso I. As an additional proof, when the
bishops of Lamego and Tiiy fled from their homes to escape
the Moslem invasion, they came as refugees to the diocese of
Iria and were there given sufficient lands for their support. 9 In
all ways it was better situated for revolt than most of the rest
of the peninsula; this is demonstrated by the fact that the Mos-
lems held no territory beyond the Douro River after the first
two generations following the conquest. None of the forays that
they made into the territory had lasting results. 10 Changes that
were brought about in North Portugal by the Moslems were

reconquista. A primeira invasao de Entre-Douro-e-Minho pelos Arabes/*
Braga, Boletim do Arquivo Municipal, I, No. 12 (Aug., 1949), 318.

& Velozo, "Contribuigao Luso-Galaico para a reconquista/* Minia, I,
No. 3 (Dec., 1946), 235.

10 Particularly notable were those of al-Mansur (Abu Amir Mafamede)
in the last quarter of the tenth century.

141

MOSLEM DOMINATION

mostly Indirect. The threat of possible attack effected a trans-
formation of the Christian lands into siege areas which altered
political and social conditions, especially in the urban centers.
The countryside was less affected, indeed, in many places
hardly at all.

LANDS PBEFEKRED BY MOSLEMS

The area of present Portugal pre-eminently to the taste of
the Moslems was the dry south, below the Tejo River, the
present Portuguese provinces of the Alentejo and, especially,
the Algarve, 11 with its climate more African than European
and with fine opportunities for irrigation. The Romans had also
preferred this Mediterranean area, although they had shown
no marked interest in most of Portugal. The Arabs had more
than casual interest. Although they did not introduce irrigation,
they elaborated it greatly. 12 Moslems from Egypt were settled
near Faro (on the south coast) and in Beja (of the Alentejo)/ 3
and Yemenite Arabs built the lovely city of Silves amidst gar-
dens and orchards in the Algarve. 14 Here, particularly, is the
Moslem stamp strong upon the country today.

Middle Portugal, the country between the Douro and the
Tejo, fulfilled its long-time function as a transition area during
the Moslem period also. It was a battleground throughout the
centuries. Wherever the armies marched there was desolation.
Fortunately, due to its broken terrain, armies were limited to
specific routes and ordinarily did not deviate greatly from them.
Roadway areas and cities were damaged, but it is improbable
that the independent, small farms of the hills were reduced in
productivity, although their owners, at times, may have been
oppressed by levies. Certain areas had an especial appeal for
the Arabs, notably the lower valley of the Mondego River, near

11 Al-Gharb the west that is, the westernmost part of Moslem
dominions in Europe.

12 Antonio Jorge Dias, Aparelhos de elevar a Agua de Rega y pp. 180
et seq.

13 Lopes, "O Dominio Arabe," Historia de Portugal, I, 407.

J * Abu-Abd-Alla-Mohamed-al-Edrisi, Description de Espana, pp. 16-17.

142

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

the city of Coimbra, 1 '"' an area where the great "Persian" water
wheels are still in use. Another area of attraction for them \vas
the Tejo Valley between Lisbon and Santarem. Edrisi speaks
of the prodigious harvests of grain there. 10

Near the Guadiana River, just beyond the present Portuguese
border, is Merida, the Roman provincial capital which was
maintained by the Visigoths. The Arabs were awed by its
splendor when they first saw it; 1T yet ultimately it did not meet
their requirements. They preferred a small settlement on the
broad flood plain of the Guadiana, which offered a greater op-
portunity for the expansion of irrigation. Here an upstart out
of the northwest, Ibn Jalaqui (which means son of Galicia),
established an independent kingdom, with its capital in the
newly selected site of present Badajoz. He not only established
a new kingdom, but a dynasty that lasted from 875 to 930. He
founded a new religion ( a combination of Islam and Christian-
ity) and made friends of the Christian princes, especially of
Alfonso III (the Great), king of Leon. 18 This development
marked the decline of Merida, 19 which reached its nadir prior
to the time of Edrisi, who referred to its interesting "vestiges." 20
It remained obscure until comparatively modern times.

Lisbon is mentioned but briefly in the Moslem records of the
time." 1 That it was a city of importance is not to be doubted.
Edrisi reported it as being a charming place, protected by a
castle and surrounded by walls, 32 large portions of which re-
main today, as does much of the castle. But it did not have the
supremacy among Portuguese cities that it enjoys now. Alcacer
do Sal, less than fifty miles to the southeast, is now a pleasant

15 Ibid., p. 20.
^ Ibid., p. 22-23.

17 Louis Bertrand, The History of Spain, p. 4.

18 Francisco Jose Velozo, "As Origens Nacionais de Portugal e de
Espanha e o domfnio Isl&mico na peninsula/' Reprint from the journal
Gil Vicente, p. 9.

19 Evariste Levi-Provengal, Hlstoire de TEspagne musulmane, III, 350-
351.

20 Edrisi, Description de Espana, p. 19.

21 Levi-Provengal, Histoire de TEspagne musulmane, III, 342.

22 Edrisi, Description de Espana, p. 20.

143

MOSLEM DOMINATION

little city of four thousand Inhabitants. Under the Moslems It
may have been a rival of Lisbon, for it was the port from which
the vessels of Al-Mansur sailed and about which Edrisi speaks
fondly, particularly noting its commerce and shipbuilding/'
For an essentially nonmaritime people, Alcacer do Sal may
have served in many ways better than Lisbon. The Sado Valley
presents an open route across the Alentejo, whereas the Tejo
River is a barrier between Lisbon and the southeast.

On the whole, as one regards the Moslem history of Portugal,
he is struck with the relative disinterest in the area when com-
pared with the concentration upon such areas as the valley of
the Guadalquivir and the Mediterranean coasts of present
Spain. The Algarve must have been a delightful place then, as
it is now, a place of modest endowments made charming by
the application of skills in the use of the land. There were no
great areas for tremendous wealth, although, no doubt, there
were prosperous Moslems living in the cities and towns and on
their small properties strewn between, probably with houses
much like those that are to be seen today. Coimbra and the
Mondego and the Tejo shores between Lisbon and Santarem
were prosperous and attractive, but by and large Portugal
continued to fill her role of the country cousin.

2 *lbid., p. 18.

CHAPTER 11

The Reconquest of Iberia

PELAYO AND Goxmc RESURGENCE

GIQA, one of the last kings of the Goths, had tried to
establish a dynasty with hereditary 7 rights in place of
the system of election which had obtained previously.
He set up a sort of vice-royalty for his son, Vitiza, in
approximately the territory of the former Swabian kingdom. 1
The device proved to be effective, for Vitiza succeeded his
father on the Visigothic throne in Toledo. The next link in the
dynastic chain would normally have been the assumption of
authority by Akhila, the son of Vitiza, but events did not dupli-
cate those of the previous accession. Visigothic nobles rejected
Akhila and in Ms place elected Rodrigo, the Duke of Cordoba,
who assumed his throne "tumultuously," 2 in face of the opposi-
tion and plotting of the family of Akhila.

Rodrigo was not to have his position for long, however. The
treachery of the family of Akhila furthered the Moslem con-

1 This was in 698-702. Ramon Menendez Pidal, Historia de Espana,
III, H.

2 Manuel Torres, "Las Invasiones y los Reinos Germanicos de Espana
(Afios 409-711)/' Historia de Espana, III, 135.

145

THE RECONQUEST OF IBERIA

quest, and after the death of Rodrigo in 711, in the battle which
opened the peninsula to the Moslems, their services were re-
warded. Akhila was established as surrogate for the Moslem
rulers. Isidore of Beja, the first chronicler of the time, does not
end the list of Visigothic monarchs with Rodrigo, but continues
with Akhila and then Ardobast. 3 In view of this fact, it may be
said that the official Goths were Moslem allies. Actually, how-
ever, not all Christians accepted this relationship, and many
dissidents took refuge in the north and northwest of the penin-
sula. 4 One of these refugees, Pelayo, is given credit for the
origins of the Christian resurgence.

Traditionally, the reconquest of Iberia from the Moslems
began with Pelayo "the Goth" and the battle (c. 721) near
Cangas de Onis, below the Penas de Europa in Asturias. Pelayo
was a man of the north, or perhaps the northwest." His father,
the dux Fafila, had been killed in Tuy by Vitiza, 4 '' the man w r ho
later became king of the Goths. It is obvious that Pelayo had
no reason to feel affection for the house of Vitiza. From the
outset he was opposed to both the complacent heirs of Vitiza
and to the Moslems with whom they had become associated.
He seems to have been involved in the early revolts in the
northwest, for he was taken as hostage by Abde Alazis in the
year 716 to assure the obedient submission of the dissidents
there. He was taken to Cordoba in the same year, but promptly
escaped. 7

For the period after his escape there is a hiatus of several

3 Francisco Jose Velozo, "As Origens Nacionais de Portugal e de
Espanha e o domirdo Islamico na peninsula," Reprint from the journal
Gil Vicente (1951), p. 5.

4 Ibid., p. 27.

5 Francisco Jose Velozo, "Alnda a contribiiigao Luso-Galaica para a
reconquista. A primeira invasao de Entre-Douro-e-Minho pelos Arabes,"
Braga, Boletim do Arquivo Municipal, I, No. 12 (Aug., 1949), 324-328.

6 Menendez Pidal, Historia de Espana, III, H.

7 Velozo, "Ainda a contribute, ao Luso-Galaica para a reconquista,**
Braga, Boletim do Arquivo Municipal, I, No. 12 (Aug., 1949), 324; "As
Origens Nacionais de Portugal e de Espanha/ 7 Reprint from the journal
Gil Vicente (1951), p. 31; "Contribuisao Luso-Galaica para a recon-
quista," Mima, I, No. 3 (Dec., 1946), 228.

146

THE INDIVTDUALITY OF POBTUGAL

years in our knowledge of his actions and affairs. He is an ob-
scure figure and the record is far from clear. One Portuguese
scholar advances an interesting argument with regard to the
lost years. He suggests that Pelayo spent this time in the north-
west, in the Portuguese Minlio or Galicia, and not in Asturias
as commonly believed. 1 * There is some reason for such a belief,
as Pelayo had formerly lived in the western area. It would have
been natural for him to return to the place where he was known
and had friends and where Moslem power had never been
established. This seems a possibility, particularly in view of the
fact that Asturias, the commonly accepted place of his refuge,
was held during those years by the Berber, Munuca, who had
his headquarters at Gijon u in Asturias. Furthermore, the Arab
historian, Ibne Idari, referred to the refuge of Pelayo and his
small group of supporters as being in the mountains of Galicia,
and the chronicle of Alfonso III attests that the conquest of
Asturias was made by men from the west and that the counts
from the west and their men were mostly Swabians and not
Goths. 10

Also obscure are the original intentions of Pelayo. The idea,
which has been so widely accepted, that he was imbued with
the desire to free Iberia from the Moslem yoke is almost cer-
tainly manufactured to suit a national mythology, but his re-

s Velozo, "Contribiiicao Luso-Galaica para a reconquista," Minia, I,
No. 3 (Dec., 1946), 235.

9 Velozo, "As Origens Nationals de Portugal e de Espanha," Reprint
from the journal Gil Vicente (1951), p. 36.

10 Velozo, "Contribiiicao Luso-Galaica para a reconquista," Minia, I,
No. 3 (Dec., 1946), 235. The Arab historian Almacari speaks definitely
of the invasion of Galicia by the Arab Muca in 716 and the conquest of
Viseu in present Portugal. Velozo, "Contribuicao Luso-Galaica para a
reconquista," Minia, I, No. 2 (May, 1945), 110-111. Muca also con-
quered Lugo in middle Galicia and ordered "explorations that arrived at
the Penha de Pelayo." Velozo thinks that the Penha de Pelayo can be
located not far from Lugo, \\ithin the triangle Cape Finisterre, Padron
(ancient Iria Flavia), and La Coruna, that is, in the extreme northwest
area of the peninsula, bordering the Atlantic. Velozo, "As Origens
Nacionais de Portugal e de Espanha," Reprint from the journal Gil
Vicente (1951), p. 26.

147

THE RECOXQUEST OF IBERIA

sentment against the Moslems, and the Vitizana dynasty allied
with them, can hardly be doubted. It is possible that simply
this resentment led him to stubborn and perhaps planless op-
position. Or he may have envisaged a re-establishment of the
political unit he had known in the northwest under Vitiza,
essentially the territory of the Swabian kingdom. Whatever
may have been his reasons, they had less to do with his success
and that of subsequent Christian monarchs than did the oppor-
tunities offered by the Moslems themselves, opportunities too

obviously favorable to be overlooked.

The pristine Moslem enthusiasm for their cause was greatly
diminished in the early years following the conquest. The Ber-
bers, especially, were dissatisfied with Arab rule. Munua, of
Gijon, was one of the dissidents, as was shown by his ultimate
willingness to make bargains with the Christians against the
interests of the Arabs. That he was not alone in his feelings was
shown by other revolts. If it had not been for this sentiment,
the forces of Pelayo might not have been able to win the
skirmish in Asturias. 11

THE BATTLE OF COVADONGA

The whereabouts of Pelayo became a matter of record again
at the time of the so-called battle of Covadonga which took
place near Cangas de Onis in present Asturias. Although this
affair has been greatly romanticized since its occurrence and
perhaps should not be termed a battle at all, there was a
skirmish, sometime between the years 721 and 725, 1 " and Pe-
layo's group may have included as many as three hundred
men. 13 His forces are said to have emerged victorious, although
perhaps the Moslems would not have concurred in this judg-
ment. It seems that Pelayo used the hit-and-run tactics common

>

to the Portuguese area and especially notable under the Lusi-

11 Ibid., p. 38.

12 Damiao Peres, "A Reconquista Crista," Historia de Portugal, I, 436.

13 Velozo, "As Origens Naclonais de Portugal e de Espanha," Reprint
from the journal Gil Vicente (1951), pp. 22, 55.

148

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

tanians. His forces damaged the Moslem contingent and then
took refuge in the hills. The Moslems may well have taken this
to be a retreat and credited themselves with the victory.

Subsequent to this fracas little is known of Pelayo, and his
successor, Fafila, 14 was obscure. It was the third in this line who
most distinguished himself as a conqueror. This was Pelayo's
son-in-law, who became known to history as Alfonso I (739-
757 ) 15 and who is famous for his great extension of Christian
control. His successes, however, like those of his father-in-law,
are to be credited only partly to his valor and to that of his
followers. Several events of importance, contributory to his
success, had taken place in the early years of his reign. First,
Berbers in Africa had revolted against Arab domination, and
this action had inspired the restive Berbers of northern Iberia
to do the same. They marched south against Cordoba in 739
and left the northern territory largely undefended. 1 "

The historical record for the period has many blank pages.
We know that there was a famine and plague which may have
been caused by warfare. However, as there has never been a
large food surplus in this area and living has been successful
only through frugality, it might be expected that difficulties
would ensue through the Moslem conquest. Disruption would
have been caused by the most understanding of conquerors,
and the Berbers were hardly this. Their home environment,
diametrically different from that of northern Iberia, gave them
little grasp of the local economy and requirements.

THE CONQUESTS OF ALFONSO I AND THE "DESERT ZONE"

Between 751 and 754, Alfonso I took Chaves, Braga, Porto,
Viseu and other settlements and castles. 17 Then he continued
his conquest by taking Astorga, Leon, Zamora, Salamanca,

14 Pierre David, Etudes historiques sur la Galice et le Portugal du VI e
au XIIl e decle, p. 32.

13 Peres, "A Reconquista Crista/' Historia de Portugal, I, 436.

16 Torquato de Sousa Scares, "O Repovoamento do Norte de Portugal
no seculo IX," Congresso do Mundo Portugues, II (1940), 396.

11 Loc. dt.

149

THE BECONQUEST OF IBERIA

Simancas, Avila, and Miranda de Ebro. 18 To accomplish these
victories, he had made thrusts through most of the northern
meseta, and such a conquest was too rapid to be permanent.
Alfonso realized this fact, and to protect the weak frontier he
decided to strengthen the Asturian nucleus. To do so lie created
a politically impotent zone south of Asturias extending to the
Duero River. The Chronicon Sebastiani says that he killed the
Arabs of the cities and that he removed the Christians, taking
them back to Asturias with him. 19 The Chronicon Albedeme
reports that he desolated the lands down to the Duero River. 20
The view that a desert waste was literally created was ac-
cepted by Herculano, and thus until recently found almost
universal acceptance in Iberia. It is still defended by many
historians. For example, Sanchez Albornoz 21 brilliantly cata-
logues the breakdown of civil and religious authority and insti-
tutions, and his proof is beyond cavil. However, his assumption
that this collapse indicates desertion of the land by the self-
sufficient small peasant farmers is in no way demonstrated.
His contention 22 that a great band of desert was created from
the Atlantic to the Ebro and that depopulation was complete
cannot be accepted. The statements to this effect by early
chroniclers, upon which he depends, were obviously hyperbole.
Nor can his later statement, 23 that the interruption of life on
the meseta was absolute, be accepted, although the desertion
of lands on the meseta of present Spain was undoubtedly far
greater than that in the mountainous Portuguese north. 24

18 Peres, "A Reconquista Crista," Historia de Portugal, I, 436.

19 Scares, "O Repovoamento do Norte de Portugal/' Congresso do
Mundo Portugues, II (1940), 396.

20 Peres, "A Reconquista Crista," Historia de Portugal, I, 436.

21 Claudio Sanchez Albornoz y Menduina, Ruina y extincion del muni-
cipio romano en Espana e instituciones que le reemplazan, p. 120.

22 Ibid., p. 120.

23 Ibid., p. 124.

2 * Sanchez Albornoz is not alone in these beliefs. See, for example,
Amando Melon y Ruiz de Gordejuela, Geografia historica espanola, I,
223-225. Antonio Jorge Bias, in his Rio de Onor, Chap. I, Note 52, p. 40,
has a useful summary of the various positions taken in this argument by
various scholars.

150

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

The opponents of such a literal acceptance of the early
chronicles base their opinions upon facts which the proponents
do not take into consideration (or at least do not mention).
Alberto Sampaio a3 pointed out that the Christians of the zone
of "desert" could not have been taken back to Asturias. It would
have been impossible to move that many people into Asturias
and to support them there. Undoubtedly individuals followed
the king back to the north, including, perhaps, all of the Chris-
tian city dwellers, but the great majority must have remained. 20
These would have been the country people, most of them iso-
lated from the main routes.

The terms "desert" and "uninhabited land" can be accepted
In only a limited sense. The statement of the Chronicon that
Alfonso eliminated the cities is reasonable. This would have
been a logical procedure, for they were not only nodal points
of communication but forts as well. But the suggestion that
the individual farmers, scattered across the hilly countryside of
North Portugal, could have been eliminated completely strains
credulity. The area has always been one of country people
rather than one of town dwellers. Armies do not scatter over
the land. They march along roads and fight for key points
cities. As both cities and roads were few in North Portugal,
the "desolation" was more strategic and political than human.

David describes the conditions of a later period when peas-
ants in France, similarly circumstanced, remained on the land. 27
That the same thing occurred in the Minho is indicated by the
typical peasant practices of the area which have their roots in
ancient times, long predating the period of the so-called deso-
lation. Undoubtedly contributing to the continuity was the re-
membrance of the church and of holy places. Even though
many churches and monasteries were in ruins, the evidence
is plain that they remained places of veneration, for with the
re-establishment of the institutional framework, the rebuilt

- 3 Alberto Sampaio, "As Vilas do Norte de Portugal," Estudos historicos
e economicos, I, Pt 1, 54.

2G A. A. Mendes Correa, Raizes de Portugal, pp. 16-18, 80-81.
27 David, Etudes histariques, p. 171.

151

THE RECONQUEST OF IBERIA

churches were given their saints' names of the Roman period.
New settlers were taken into the old religious framework of the
primitive parishes, marked by the church and the cemetery.- 8
In terms of politics, however, it was an empty land. Cities,
the political nerve centers, were eliminated. So, in the struggle
for power, the politically unimportant area of small fanners
was a "desert" in the eyes of ambitious men. This condition of
political "desolation" between the Minho and Douro rivers in
Portugal lasted for about a century. 21 '

RESETTLEMENT OF TOWNS OF PRESENT NORTH PORTUGAL

Alfonso II asked for and received aid from Charlemagne in
795. The aid of the Franks made possible Alfonso's advance
into Middle Portugal, which reached at least as far as Lisbon.
Relieved of the Moslem threat on the south, urban life began
to take form again in the Douro-to-Minho region. In 840 the
king met with a council of counts and bishops in Guimaraes
to promote the settlement of these "desolated" lands. From
Guimaraes they went to Braga to consider its restoration. Nodi-
ing was done immediately, for a document of 841 mentions the
"great decay of the place," 30 and the Metropolitan of Braga
fulfilled the obligations of his office in Lugo, 31 Perhaps their
intentions to resettle were thwarted by the considerable diffi-
culties of the decade 840-850, with its internal revolts in the
northwest and Norman attacks on the coasts. 32

Temporarily the trend toward the re-establishment of cities
languished, but during the reign of Alfonso's successor, Ordofio
I (850-860), another start was made. It was during this period
that Tuy, on the lower Minho River, was re-established." 3 Al-

28 Pierre David, "Les Saints Patrons d'eglises entre Minho et Mondego
jusqu'a la fin du XI e siecle," Revista Portuguesa de Historia, II (1943),
250-251.

29 Damiao Peres, Como nasceu Portugal, p. 38.

30 Peres, "A Reconquista Crista," Hitforia de Portugal, I, 441.

31 David, Etudes historiques, pp. 123-124, 128.

32 Peres, "A Reconquista Crista," Historia de Portugal, I, 441.

33 Peres, Como nasceu Portugal, p. 38.

152

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

fonso III (866-910) continued the policy of resettlement with
even more vigor than that of his predecessors." 4 He ordered the
re-establishment of Porto," 5 which was done in 868, largely by
refugees from Coinibra. After this event the area to the north
was repopulated. 30 That this re-establishment was accomplished
out of Coimbra and Porto is of fundamental importance for the
later Portuguese national state.

THE SPECIAL CHARACTER OF THE AREA OF SETTLEMENT

The resettlement of the north was made in the "desert" zone,
which had had no political affiliation for over a century and
had severed its economic ties with Galicia and Leon. Politically
and economically, this zone started afresh with new alignments,
whereas Galicia had had an unbroken tradition of adherence
to the Leonese kingdom of the Iberian plateau. The cultural

34 Peres, "A Reconquista Crista," Historia de Portugal, I, 441.

35 David, Etudes historiques, p. 159. Porto is the ancient Portus Gale
on the Douro River. Calem was probably a Lusitanian citdnia that later
was used by the Romans as a place of embarkation, hence the prefix
portus. See J. Augusto Ferreira, Memorias Archaeologico-historicas da
Cidade do Porto, I, 11. The Itinerary of Antoninus placed it on the left
bank of the river, in the approximate location of the present Vila Nova
de Gaia. H. Lautensach, "Portugal: Auf Grund eigener Reisen und der
Literatur." L "Das Land als Ganzes," Petermanns Mitteilungen, No. 213
(1932), 1. Leite de Vasconcellos thought that it was probably on the
right bank, in the approximate place of the present Porto. J. Leite de
Vasconcellos, "Delimitacao da fronteira Portuguesa," Boletim da Classe
de Letras, XIII (1918-1919), 1279. The Swabian parochiale seems to
place Roman Portucale to the south of the Douro, Portucale on the north
being Swabian. David, Etudes historiques, p. 79. During the period of
Swabian rule, the bishop Idatius distinguished the unfortified Portucale
locum on the right bank from castrum on the south bank, which was a
fortified place on an eminence. Ferreira, Memorias Archaeologico-his-
toricas da Cidade do Porto, I, 11. In the twelfth century there seems to
have been a settlement on the left bank. Charles Wendell David, De
Expugnatione Lyxbonensi, p. 67. This, of course, does not rule out the
probability of the complementary settlement on the other side of the river.

Anciently and persistently there has been a tendency for the develop-
ment of settlements facing each other across the Douro. The position on
the river, as a crossing place, has had enduring importance.

36 "Repopulated" here means the re-establishment of cities and com-
munications.

THE RECONQUEST OF IBERIA

similarity between Galicia and the north of Portugal remained,
but there was a new economic focus and a consciousness of
difference, beginning at the north border of the formerly "de-
serted" zone, the line of the lower Minho River.
^ In a Guimaraes document of 841 there is reference to the
"Provincia Portucalense," tacitly underlining the special char-
acter of the area south of the Minho River, the southern section
of the former Swabian realm, the germ of the future Portugal." 7
Thus the present province of the Minho, plus extensions south-
ward, was recognized as a place apart, one with distinct per-
sonality. In a document of Alfonso III, of 883, the name "Portu-
gal" was used to identify the Minho-to-Douro lands. The term
"Galicia" was restricted to the area to the north of the Minho
Riveiv' 18 Another document, of 938, uses the term "Portugal" in
this precise sense. One of 959 describes Galicia as being only
to the north of the Minho River: 19 In the middle of the follow-
ing century, documents refer to Portugal as one of the parts of
the kingdom of Leon, but as being distinct from Galicia. It
seems quite clear that for people of that period the area of
present northwest Portugal was distinct from the area of present
Galicia, to the north of the Minho River. This is not surprising
in view of the fact that the "desert" of Alfonso existed still in
part of the present Portuguese lands, making an economic
separation between the organized area of Galicia and the area
being organized out of the south.

The resettlement of the region of the present province of
Minho was not accomplished suddenly. As late as the eleventh
century the term Portugal usually referred to the lands between
the Mondego and Lima rivers, including the cities of Coimbra,
Porto, Braga, Guimaraes, and Barcelos. 40 It must be remem-
bered that the resettlement of the "desert" started with the
re-establishment of Porto by men from Coimbra. Out of Porto

3T Alberto Sampaio, quoted by Damiao Peres, "Origens da nacionali-
dade," Congresso do Mundo Portugues, II, 33.

38 Ibid., p. 15.

39 Peres, "Origens da nacionalidade," Congresso do Mundo Portugu&s,
II, 16.

40 David, Etudes historiques, p. 332.

154

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

the settlement of the cities to the north was effected. As late
as the early part of the eleventh century the northern part of
present Portugal, the territory lying between the Lima and
Minho rivers, had not been effectively resettled. Nor had the
present province of Tras-os-Montes become a part of the north-
western nucleus. It remained remote from the martial and po-
litical events affecting the lowland area to the west and the
meseta to the east. Even in the early twelfth century it was
politically outside of the incipient Portuguese state, although
its south and west sections were within the orbit of Portuguese
economic affairs. But by the middle of the following century
all of the province had become an integral part of Portuguese
territory. 41

REVOLTS IN THE NORTHWEST

The northwest, which had lived with a large degree of iso-
lation and self-sufficiency, had problems of its own that it was
forced to meet in its own way. Norman 42 attacks which began
in the ninth century were repeated and became especially
troublesome during the tenth and early eleventh centuries. In
968 there was a great raid, and in 1016 43 an especially vicious
attack destroyed Tuy completely. Against these attacks the
problem of defense was local, for the Leonese king and his
forces were too remote, and usually too occupied, to offer aid.
The local barons had to maintain themselves, and the self-
sufficiency engendered by such demands upon their courage
and resourcefulness added to the ideas of rebellion common to
the times.

Even before the devastation and weakening of Leon by al-
Mansur in the last of the tenth century, attempts had been
made by local barons of Galicia to throw off Leonese control.
In the last half of the tenth century they rebelled against

41 Conde de Sao Payo (D. Antonio), "Esbogo da carta historica de
Provincia de Tras-os-Montes (seculos XIII a XIX)," Congresso do Mundo
Portugues, II, 421-433.

42 That is, "northmen," including various Scandinavians.

43 Ramon Menendez Pidal, La Espana del Cid, p. 68.

155

THE RECONQUEST OF IBERIA

Ordono III, 44 and in 1031 other revolts in Galicia against the
king of Leon were aided by the king of Navarra. 4r> By the end
of the eleventh century the sense of independence had grown
so lustily that in 1071 the barons of Entre-Douro-e-Minho
(Minho Province) revolted against King Garcia of the ephem-
eral kingdom of Galicia. 40 This revolt was a precursor of the
one of 1128 when Affonso (or Afonso) Henriques took the
successful step toward Portuguese independence. The barons
might well have advanced the day of Portuguese independence
by three generations had it not been for the opposition of
Sesnando, Count of Coimbra. Because of his opposition, the
barons were squeezed between two forces and defeated. 47

The remote, increasingly self-sufficient northwest was an
obvious candidate for separatism. If means had not been found
to avoid it in Galicia, that section of Iberia would almost surely
have been lost to Spain, as Portugal was ultimately lost. A de-
vice that probably can be credited with maintaining the bonds
between Galicia and the meseta kingdoms was suggested, per-
haps quite fortuitously, by the church. This was the establish-
ment and development of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Com-
postela along the route from France across north Spain.

THE PILGRIMAGE TO SANTIAGO

The rebelliousness of the northwest had been not only polit-
ical but also religious. This part of Iberia had long been restless
and independently disposed toward Rome (note earlier refer-
ences to the Priscillianist and Manichaean heresies in Chapter
9 ) . This sense of detachment from the remainder of Iberia was
largely dissipated in Galicia by the development of the pilgrim-
age to the supposed Iberian resting place of the remains of

44 Peres, "A Reconquista Crista," Historia de Portugal, I, 454.

45 Menendez Pidal, La Espana del Cid, p. 68.

46 Peres, "A Reconquista Crista," Historia de Portugal, I, 366.

47 Sesnando was the son of a wealthy mozarabe who became vizier to
the Emir of Seville. He transferred his allegiance to Ferdinand the Great
and was rewarded by territory south of the Douro River. Alexandre
Herculano, Historia de Portugal (7th ed.), p. 10.

156

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

St. James, the first reference to which was made in the ninth
century. 4 "

Although the pilgrimage was started only in the ninth cen-
tury, by the end of that century it was well known in Iberia.
Alfonso III (the Great) came with all of his family. In the
tenth century pilgrims came from as far as Egypt and Nubia.
By the eleventh century the great movement was thoroughly
established. 49 In the twelfth century further efforts were made
by the monks of Cluny and by Diego Gelmirez, Archbishop of
Santiago, and the pilgrimage became one of the most famous
tourist enterprises of all time.'" 10

The intermingling of religious and political purposes is indi-
cated by the relations of the leading figures to each other.
Calixtus II was a member of a noble Burgundian family, and
was chosen Pope at Cluny. As Pope, with support from Cluny,
at that time the chief center of religious influence throughout
Western Europe, his support of the pilgrimage was an impor-
tant factor. His decisions may have been influenced by the fact
that Raymond, Count of Galicia, had been his brother, 51 as
well as the son-in-law of Alfonso VI ( see below ) .

AFFAIRS OF LEON DURING THE PERIOD OF THE
RESETTLEMENT OF THE NORTHWEST

The rebellious northwest was an obvious and great problem
for the king, but it was not his only problem. Conditions in the
remainder of the peninsula had been growing worse for Leon
during the centuries. These tangled affairs of the peninsula in
general had a decisive bearing upon the achievement of Portu-
guese independence.

Along the Duero River, in present Spain, where Alfonso I
had created the strategic "defensive desert" between the Cali-
phate and the kingdom of Asturias, the desolation of the open

48 Georgiana G. King, The Way of Saint James, I, 48-49, 58-59, 62, 93.

49 Ibid., p. 99.

30 Marques de la Vega Inclan, Guia del Viaje a Santiago, V, 7.
51 Ibid., p. 11.

157

THE RECONQUEST OF IBERIA

meseta lands was undoubtedly far greater than that of Xorth
and Middle Portugal. In the broken terrain of Portugal it was
not difficult for individual farmers to remain; the case was
otherwise in the open plateau. Even in prehistoric times the
destruction of forests had been largely accomplished on the
meseta;^ During the period of the reconquest the advancing
Christians., for strategic reasons, eliminated most of the remain-
ing trees and woody growth. It was not a useful refuge area;" 3

RESETTLEMENT OF THE Meseta

During the last half of the ninth and the early tenth cen-
turies, resettlement was begun on the meseta. The southern
part of the province of Leon was repopulated mostly by Ga-
lician and Asturian colonists. 54 This fact, undoubtedly, had an
influence upon the later alliance of Galicia with the meseta
kingdoms. North Portugal, as was pointed out above, was re-
settled out of the south. This is an important difference and
casts more light upon the ultimate separation of Galicia and
Portugal.

On the meseta the course of resettlement was less smooth
than in the remote west. During most of the tenth century
Moslem influence was dominant, either by reason of its vigor
or because of Christian inefflcacy. The Leonese kings seem to
have been thoroughly unexceptional. In company with the
rulers of Navarra, the counts of the Marca (Catalonia), the
great counts of Castile, and even those of Galicia," they were
continually found at the court of the Caliphs, both to pay their
respects and to receive information about external and even

52 Hermann Lautensach, "Die Iberische Halbinsel als Schauplatz der
geschichtlichen Bewegung," Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft fur Erdkunde su
Berlin, Nos. 3/4 (June, 1948), 104.

53 Although betokening the tenacity with which peasants cling to then-
land, it seems probable that even during the long centuries of recurrent
disaster it was never completely uninhabited.

54 Menendez Pidal, La Espana del Cid, p. 54.

55 One may safely assume that the northwest, never an area of interest
to the Moslems, was less influenced by this political situation than were
other Christian areas.

158

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

internal affairs of their own domains. The focus of much of
Iberia was upon Cordoba; 1 ' 5 and the Moslems certainly were not
interested in Christian resettlement.

That this subservience of the Christians to the Moslems
diminished in the last half of the century is made apparent by
revolts and the strenuous efforts of al-Mansur to quell them.
In a series of thrusts through Iberia, he slashed the country-
side through which his armies passed, leveling any cities that
resisted. Even the remote northwest was involved, for a re-
volt there brought him through southwest Spain, up through
Coimbra (which lie destroyed in 9S7), 57 Viseu, and to Porto,
where he met his fleet, which had sailed from the presently
named Alcacer do Sal. From Porto the combined forces
marched northward to Galicia. Near Vigo, a few stalwarts set
up a brief opposition, but it was a minor incident in the victori-
ous march of al-Mansur. From there they continued to San-
tiago de Compostela, which was sacked and burned. 58 All along
the route destruction was the price of resistance, but the cities
of present Portugal, for the most part, chose discretion as the
better part of valor and, as they submitted without resistance,
were not damaged. The Portuguese counts of the northern
province, lying between the Douro and Minho rivers, sub-
mitted as allies. 59 In general, by choosing non-resistance, Portu-
gal saved itself from the destruction that was wrought upon
the resisters, and especially upon Leon.

THE DECLINE OF LEON AND THE RISE OF CASTILE

Leon was the strongest opponent of the Moslems and thus
the center of their attack in several campaigns. Not only were
cities sacked and burned, but the desolation of the farms and

Menendez Pidal, La Espana del Cid, p. 36.

57 It was leveled so completely that for seven years afterward there
was no occupation of the site, according to the Chronicon Conimbricense.
Quoted in Evariste Levi-Proven^al, Histoire de TEspagne musulmane, II,
239.

58 Ibid., p. 249.

59 Loc. cit.

159

THE RECONQUEST OF IBERIA

groves was frightful. 00 Nevertheless, even after these afflictions,
Leon remained the most powerful of the Christian kingdoms
in the early eleventh century. 01 But the bell was beginning to
toll. The blows of the Moslems had been debilitating * J3 and
constituted an important reason for its decline. Other reasons
for decline are harder to assess but, without doubt, they were
of importance. For example, the rigidity of customs and law
was such that it was impossible for Leon to adjust to the chang-
ing times. The old Visigothic law, the Fuero Juzgo, was grimly
applied, even though it failed to fit the conditions of this
revolutionary situation. Nor did the Visigothic bequest of un-
predictable regal succession help matters. 03 It led to internal
tensions and spawned revolts, when unanimity of purpose might
have saved the kingdom.

Castile, on the other hand, largely discarded the Visigothic
regulations wherever they failed to be suitable, and thus made
its whole political structure more resilient and adjustable.
Castilian judges, beginning with the early tenth century, began
basing their judgments upon local customs, rather than on the
Fuero Juzgo.^ This attitude, coupled with the fact that Castile
was not the center of Moslem attack and suffered less than
Leon in battle, led to its increasing political importance.

Some relief came to the Christian kingdoms with the death
of al-Mansur in 1002, which left a political vacuum in Moslem
territory. The disorder that ensued among Moslems did not
redound to the benefit of Leon particularly, although it meant
relief from pressure. Castile was the chief beneficiary. During
the eleventh century Ferdinand I (1038-1065), king of Castile
(and ultimately of Galicia, Leon, and Navarra), achieved great
victories. He reconquered extensive territories from the prince
of Badajoz and made incursions into the domains of the king
of Saragossa. He made vassals of the kings of Toledo and Se-

60 Ibid., pp. 234-249.

61 Menendez Pidal, La Espana del Cid. p. 40.
lbid., p. 65.

63 IfcidL, pp. 66-68.
**lbid. 9 p. 55,

160

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

ville. By 1054 he had everything from Galicia to the Ebro in
his power, and in Portugal he established the south border of
Christendom at the Mondego River." 5

It must have seemed, then, a propitious time for the complete
triumph of Christian arms in the peninsula, but such an out-
come was still more than four centuries away. The delay was
caused by many things, but the immediate reason was that
Ferdinand divided his kingdom into three parts and by so doing
again set up internal conflict in Christian lands. Although his
son, Alfonso VI of Leon and Asturias, continued the struggle
against the Moslems, taking Toledo, virtually controlling Valen-
cia and raiding south of Seville to the sea, (Hi he was at odds
with the other Christian kingdoms; Castile was against Leon
and Navarra; Aragon was opposed to Catalonia. Moreover, one
of the great motivating forces of the reconquest precluded com-
plete victory over the Moslems. This was the desire for quick
profit through loot, ransom for the return of persons or cities,
or payment for protection. For centuries, the ordinary way of
living was by marauding and pillaging, and Christian armies
of the meseta (less so in Portugal) often had more interest in
winning battles that would involve loot or payment for future
protection by Moslem kings than any wish to possess or settle
new territory. Christian princes extracted extortionate levies
from Moslem kingdoms. Time and again, cities were captured
only to be relinquished after they had been sacked or had given
promises of payment. 07

The conquest of Alfonso VI led the Moslems of the south to
appeal to the Almoravides of Africa for help. They responded,
and in 1086 won a great victory at Zalaca, near Badajoz. After
this, the fanatical, well-organized Almoravides controlled a
large part of Iberia for over a generation before power began
to slip from their grasp. In 1120 they were badly beaten by

65 J. Leite de Vasconcellos, "Delimitacao da fronteira Portuguesa,"
Boletim da Classe de Letras, XIII (1918-1919), p. 1276.

6G This was the period of Rodrigo de Vivar, El Cid Campeador, d. 1099.

67 Louis Bertrand, The History of Spain, p. 159; Peres, "A Reconquista
Crista/* Historia de Portugal, I, 451.

161

THE RECONQUEST OF IBERIA

Alfonso of Aragon, el Batdlador. But they were not the last of
the Africans to invade Iberia. Later in the century they were
followed by the Almohades, who, although never as effective
as the Almoravides had been in the first years of their power,
established control over the southern part of the peninsula.
Moslem pressure from the south remained a serious problem
for the Christians until 1212, when the Almohades were de-
cisively beaten at Navas de Tolosa.

The twelfth century as a whole was one of disruption and
devastation for the area of present New Castile with the alter-
nating advances and withdrawals of Christians and Moslems,
each in turn scorching the land as they passed through it. The
inhabitants of the south meseta, trying to eke out a living,
found that it was useless to plant trees. Such long-term plans
were profitless in face of the planned destruction of the country-
side. Grain was less a gamble, as it required only a few months'
wait before the harvest. Best of all, however, were mobile flocks
of animals which could be moved out of harm's way. Moslems
complained to the Emperor in Morocco that they could not live
isolated on the meseta to fall prey to marauders."' 8 That Chris-
tians were in the same predicament is borne out by Edrisfs
twelfth-century report, in which he said that the function of
Medellin, Trujillo, and Caceres was to serve as forts from which
raids could be made to devastate and sack Christian places/ 39
Loot seems to have been a large part of the motivation.

A change in attitude may be first observed in the mid-
eleventh century, when Castile began to exhibit greater interest
in the permanent expansion of its borders, rather than the im-
mediate profit to be squeezed from Moslems either for protec-
tion or for the recession of conquered territories. 70 This did not
represent a complete change in Castilian policy. The predilec-
tion for raiding and loot was too strongly ingrained to be

cs Antonio Dominguez Ortiz, "La Poblacion espanola a lo largo de
nuestra historia," Boletin de la Real Sodedad Geogrdfica, LXXXVI, Nos.
4-6 (Apr .-June, 1950), 273-274.

69 Abu-Abd-Alla-Mohamed-al-Edrisi, Description de Espafia, p. 25.

70 Menendez Pidal, La Espana del Cid, pp. 42-43.

162

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

eliminated quickly. It continued to have importance until
Granada fell. The change in attitude was sufficient, however,
to give Castile an advantage over Leon where the preoccupa-
tion with loot continued unabated.

THE SHIFT IN POWER AND ITS EFFECT
UPON PORTUGUESE INDEPENDENCE

Of the three distinct centers or nuclei of the north of Iberia,
Leon had been the most powerful and was the object of Mos-
lem attack. Leonese strength in this case was its disadvantage
and it suffered under repeated and devastating attacks. Castile,
on the east, was less in the Moslem focus and continued to
grow in power and to form itself as a political unit. On the
other side was the area of present North Portugal, considerably
isolated by topography. It was a wet, green country in a blind-
alley position and had little to recommend it to either the
Moslems or the meseta Spaniards. Leon had its hands full with
insuperable problems without being concerned about a remote,
somewhat strange and unattractive land. Even less would that
part of the peninsula have come into the ken of Castile, so far
away and so involved in the great social and military changes
that eventuated in its becoming the supreme power of Spain.
The emergence of Castile as dominant over Leon was all to the
good for Portugal. It left the latter a free choice of remaining
largely aloof, or of taking part in the affairs of the rest of the
peninsula. When its interests were served it could take part in
the conflict, but otherwise there was little compulsion. When
Portugal struck for its freedom, Leon was well along the road
of its decline, but Castile had not yet succeeded in consoli-
dating its power over the more important areas in the east and
the south.

The political advantages of the offside position of Portugal
are obvious but there was another advantage to this avoidance
of involvement in the martial affairs of the peninsula. It allowed
the Portuguese farmers, who were more strongly rooted in the
land than their meseta relatives, an opportunity to continue to

163

THE RECONQUEST OF IBERIA

improve their agriculture. At the time of the raids and counter-
raids on the meseta, where potential agricultural land was con-
verted by reasons of necessity into sheep runs, the Portuguese
fanners continued their agriculture without disruption. On the
Spanish side, the herder, always strong, was strengthened fur-
ther, whereas on the Portuguese side if there was change it was
in favor of the farmer.

CHAPTER 12

D

Final Steps toward Portuguese
Independence

THE BURGUNDIANS IN THE NORTHWEST

URING the eleventh century, Pope Alexander II en-
couraged Europeans to go to Spain to fight Moslems.
Of the many French who heeded the call and became
permanent settlers in Iberia x two are particularly to

wwwv

be noted. The first, Raymond, son of the Count of Burgundy,
arrived before the end of the century. He married Urraca, the
only legitimate daughter of Alfonso. As Galicia was a troubled
place, Alfonso decided to put this newly acquired member of
his family in authority there, as a sort of viceroy. 2 The second
figure of importance was Henry, cousin of Raymond and grand-
son of Robert, Duke of Burgundy, By 1095 he was married to
Theresa (or Tarasia or Tareja), an illegitimate daughter of

1 Several settlements were established or influenced by the French.
J. Leite de Vasconcellos, Origem historica e formacdo do povo Portugues,
pp. 8-13.

2 Alexandre Herculano, Historia de Portugal (7th ed.), pp. 14-15;
Damiao Peres, Como nasceu Portugal, p. 48.

165

PORTUGUESE INDEPENDENCE

Alfonso. 3 Henry was also given territory, that of present North
Portugal. In the first year he may have been subject to the au-
thority of Raymond/ although this is not certain. He may
never have been answerable to anyone but Alfonso from the
year 1095, when he was first given authority in the region south
of the Minho River. 5

Documents of the period make a clear distinction between
this territory and that of Raymond, to the north of the Minho. 6
Henry held his territory with sovereign rights, which were also
rights of inheritance. This fact was demonstrated by the rever-
sion of the territory without question, first to his widow and
then to his son, Affonso Henriques. Nevertheless, it was not
autonomy; Henry was the vassal of the Spanish king. 7 His
situation was altered in the early years of the twelfth century
when fundamental changes took place, brought about in the
first instance by the death of the principal contenders for
power. Raymond, who had laid plans to succeed his father-in-
law, Alfonso, died in 1107. Alfonso's son, Sancho, the heir, died
in 1108. Alfonso himself died the next year. From these deaths
came the various problems of succession and inheritance.
Urraca, daughter of Alfonso and widow of Raymond of Galicia,
was the legitimate heir to the Leonese throne; but when she
assumed authority over the whole kingdom, Henry in Portugal
felt that he had been bilked of his due. His anger was a promise
of trouble to come. 8

Urraca added to her difficulties by marrying Alfonso of
Aragon, known to history as "el Batallador" This union created
antagonism among the clergy, who were vocal in their opposi-
tion. Her newly acquired husband took umbrage at these
ecclesiastics and marched against them into Galicia, thereby

3 Herculano, Hist or ia de Portugal, pp. 16-17.

4 Ibid., p. 17.

5 Damiao Peres, "A Reconquista Crista," Historia de Portugal, I, 477.
G Damiao Peres, "Origens da nacionalidade," Congresso do Mundo

Portugues, II, 20.
7 Ibid., p. 21.
s Herculano, Historia de Portugal, p. 32.

166

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF POBTUGAL

causing further antagonism;' not only with them, but even with
his bride. Also, he occasionally beat her in public. She alter-
nately opposed or joined her Aragonese husband, depending
upon strategic expediency.

To add further confusion to the disrupted political affairs of
the time, the Galician barons f ormed a nucleus around Urraca's
son, Alfonso Raimundez, to the end of establishing him in
power in the northwest. 10

DISRUPTION IN SPAIN, AN OPPORTUNITY FOR PORTUGAL

Spanish disruption was great, and neither of the Spanish
rivals had clear superiority of power. The balance held by
Henry gave him a wonderful bargaining position. Never, it
seems, was Portugal considered valuable enough to invade and
conquer for itself. But the support that it could give to one or
the other of the contestants was to be sought. The distress of
Leon made Portuguese opportunity and Henry played both
sides to his own advantage, changing quickly from one to the
other and back again, according to the price offered for his
aid. 11 He was never punished for his perfidy, but rewarded each
time that he changed sides. The result was increased strength
for Henry and Portugal, and exhaustion for Leon and, in part,
for Galicia. Henry reduced his dependence upon the king of
Leon to virtually nothing. 12

Henry died, probably in 1112. His widow, Theresa, assumed
power without any questions being raised as to her hereditary
rights over the territory. At first she gave a nominal allegiance
to the queen of Leon, but at the same time she was making
secret plans with dissident groups in Galicia. 13 She established a

fl Ibid., p. 36.

10 They claimed that Alfonso, prior to his death, stipulated that Alfonso
Raimundez should inherit Galicia in the event that Urraca married again.
Whether or not this was true, it became their shibboleth.

11 Peres, Como nasceu Portugal, pp. 90-91.

12 Loc. cit.

13 Peres, "Origens da nacionatidade," Conor esso do Mundo Fortuities,
II, 27.

167

PORTUGUESE INDEPENDENCE

union, perhaps a marriage, with Fernando Peres of Galicia,
which did not endear her to the local barons of the lands south
of the Minho, for Peres was given lands there, in addition to
authority. 14

That Theresa's independent strength was considerable at this
time is shown by the fact that in 1117, when Urraca was at war
with her husband, Galicians, Leonese, Castilians, and Asturians
all fought with her, while Theresa took no part. 15 As far as can
be determined she was in no way penalized for her lack of sub-
mission to the Spanish queen. In 1116 Theresa took a part of
Galicia and in 1119 Tiiy and Orense, 16 which, however, she
held but temporarily.

As the barons of Galicia had formed around Alfonso Rai-
mundez, so did the barons of the territory south of the Minho
River gather around Theresa's son, Affonso Henriques, forming
a party of revolt against his mother. In 1128 the land to the
north of the Douro was in the hands of this group, while
Theresa and Peres were in control to the south. In the same
year, at the Battle of Sao Mamede near Guimaraes, Theresa
and Peres were beaten and expelled from Portugal. 17

INDEPENDENT PORTUGAL

From this time forward, the area was under the control of
local persons, exclusively occupied with what has become rec-
ognized as Portuguese and conscious of their determination to
maintain an independent unit in present North Portugal. Their
intentions as to the south were as yet unformed, insofar as we
have evidence. Supposedly, the centuries-old habit of fighting
Moslems on the south border was not lost to sight. Affonso
Henriques successfully fought alternately the Moslems on the
south and Alfonso VII on the east and north. In 1139 or 1140

14 Peres, Como nasceu Portugal, pp. 96-100.

15 Ibid., p. 92.

16 J. Leite de Vasconcellos, "Delimitagao da fronteira Portuguesa,"
Boletim da Classe de Letras, XIII (1918-1919), 1281.

1T Peres, "Origens da nacionalidade," Congresso do Mundo Portugues,
II, 32.

16S

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

he assumed the title of king 1& and proclaimed the official in-
dependence of Portugal. Pope Alexander III underwrote this
claim in 1179. 11 '

The particular opportunity offered to Count Henry and his
son, Affonso Henriques, was a result of Spanish politics, but it
was no accident of history that the independence of Portugal
was achieved. The basis of an independent western nation in
the Iberian peninsula had existed through all known time. It
should be remembered that Portugal took form in the area with
a persistent core of independent character, in the northwest of
the peninsula."

Portugal is named fittingly. The name suggests historical
reality, as "Lusitania," a literary creation of the sixteenth cen-
tury, does not. 21 This statement in no sense is meant to contra-
dict Leite de Vasconcellos 21> and Mendes Correa,- 3 who insist

18 Carl Erdmann, "A Adapgao do titulo de Reipor D. Afonso Henriques"
(trans. Rodolfo Frederico Knapic), Congresso do Mundo Portugues, II, 65.

10 Amando Melon y Ruiz de Gordejuela, Geografia historica espanola,
I, 257.

20 Herculano rejected the historical and ethnic background of the
Portuguese state. He did so on the grounds that the Lusitanian territory
and the Lusitanians themselves could not be equated with the area within
present Portuguese boundaries. This is a straw man that he pushes over.
Common to his period was an unwarranted, romantic belief in the
exclusively Lusitanian background of Portugal. Reasonably, he found this
to be erroneous. However, to reject the ethnic and historical continuity of
the nuclear area in North Portugal is another matter. See A. A. Mendes
Correa, Raizes de Portugal (2nd ed.), especially pp. 117-118.

Another factor, the importance of which it is impossible to gauge, is
that indicated by physical anthropology. Although there is no doubt as
to the close cultural relation between the two areas, the striking variance
shown by physical anthropology between Galicia and present North
Portugal may indicate deep-seated differences that may have conduced
to political separation of the areas. Eastern Galicia with northern Asturias
shows the greatest brachycephaly of Iberia, whereas to the south, in the
mountains of North Portugal, there is the greatest dolichocephaly of the
peninsula. Mendes Correa, Raizes de Portugal, pp. 90-91.

21 Pierre David, Etudes historiques sur la Galice et le Portugal du VI e
an Xlll e siecle, p. xix.

22 J. Leite de Vasconcellos, Religwes da Lusitdnia, I, xxv-xxvi.

- 3 A. A. Mendes Correa, "A Lusitania pre-romana," Historia de Portu-
gal, I, 185.

169

PORTUGUESE INDEPENDENCE

that the Lusitanians were clearly an important part of the
Portuguese admixture. But that they were an important part of
the blend of peoples who ultimately achieved independence
does not imply that it was in their territory that the movement
started or, indeed, that in that area there was the psychological
basis of such a movement. For this one must look to northwest
Portugal.

THE BASIS OF SEPARATION OF PORTUGAL AND GALICLA

It would seem more difficult to explain why Galicia, which
had always been an integral part of the northwest culture
region, remained separate from the Portuguese state. However,
the reasons may not be difficult to find. One of them, obviously,
is the fact that the re-establishment of political control of the
province of the Minho came from Porto in the south and not
from Galicia. Leon, on the other hand, was resettled out of the
north, with Galicians making up part of the group of settlers.
For the Portuguese area a new political and economic orienta-
tion had been established. Nuclear Portugal (the Minho Prov-
ince) had a degree of isolation not possessed by Galicia. The
only good entryway into the north of Portugal is along the
western seacoast. Another entryway, from Verm along the
Tamega River Valley through Chaves and then, over a slight
rise, into the valley of the Corgo River and finally into that of
the Douro, is of local economic and of limited strategic impor-
tance. 24 A third possible entryway is that along the high plain
of northeastern Portugal leading into Spain in the neighbor-
hood of the town of Alcanices. This, however, is even more in-
accessible than that of Verin-Chaves. 25 On the east there is
none until south of the latitude of Salamanca where, after the
twelfth century, a connection was made between Ciudad Rod-

24 Even though it is the entryway used by Soult in Napoleonic times,
the fault valley of the Tamega belongs essentially to Portugal and not to
Galicia. Not far north of the Portuguese border is a highland which
effectively separates the valley of the Tamega from the Galician basin
of the Mifio River in Spain.

25 Mendes Correa, Raizes de Portugal, p. 42.

170

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

rigo - (i in Spain and the Portuguese city of Guarda, settled in
1197. 27 The Romans had used a route across this middle coun-
try, but it ran somewhat to the south of the Ciudad Rodrigo-
Guarda road, 28

Galicia itself is readily entered from the east, along the north
coast or from the meseta directly, through the city of Leon to
Astorga, and from there to Lugo. This is the old Roman road
which was established in keeping with topography. Nowhere
does it present great problems of slope. The same is true of the
road leading from Lugo to the ria harbors of the west. This
facility of entry is lacking in the mountain and canyon border-
land separating Spain from most of the north and northeast of
Portugal.

Perhaps an even more important reason for the separation of
Galicia from nuclear Portugal concerns the establishment of
Santiago de Compostela as a great religious and pilgrimage
center. The road to Santiago across the north of Spain was a
famous and important route, linking Spain with Galicia physi-
cally and emotionally. There was no such link between Portu-
gal and Spain. On the contrary, the Portuguese church had
been a relatively independent institution. The Bishop and later
Metropolitan in Braga had independent rights. If, as was once
hoped, the Metropolitan of Braga had become the Iberian
Primate, Portuguese history might have been different, but this
did not occur and his authority became localized.

There is no single, simple reason for Portuguese independ-
ence. Individual judgments, institutional decisions, historical
backgrounds, and the position and nature of the land all con-
tributed to the result.

26 Repopulated in 1161. Julio Gonzalez, "Repoblacion de la 'Extrema-
dura' leonesa," Hispania, XI, 226.

27 Hermann Lautensach, "Portugal Auf Grund eigener Reisen und der
Literatur." 2. "Die portugiesischen Landschaften" (Gotha, Petermanns
Mitteilnngen, No. 230, 1937), 31.

28 A. de Amorim Girao, Geografia de Portugal, facing p. 366.

CHAPTER 13

T

Completion of the Portuguese
State

SOUTHWARD EXPANSION

HE NUCLEUS area has been fundamental to Portu-
guese existence. After the independence of the north,
. the problem ceased to be that of the establishment of
S/WWWV* the Portuguese nation, but became a matter of its ex-
tension. The lands later added had not been exclusively Portu-
guese, culturally and historically, nor did they, through much
of their extent, belong physically more to an Atlantic fringe
than to the central meseta.

The extension of Portuguese control from the nuclear area
is, to some degree at least, a matter of politics and opportun-
ism. The inclusion of the Alentejo and the Algarve may be
largely, although not entirely, credited to the determination of
ambitious Portuguese kings and nobles, and to the preoccupa-
tion of Spanish kings and nobles with affairs elsewhere in the
peninsula. Conquest was achieved against a weakening resist-
ance and a diminishing base of Moslem action. Everywhere
south of the Mondego the extension of political control was sim-
plified for the Christians by dissension among the Moslem Taifa

172

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

kingdoms, and their willingness, often indeed their desire, to
give ground to the Christians, who presented a lesser evil than
that of their co-religionists, the Almoravides and Almohades.
To a considerable extent the task of conquest, control, and re-
settlement was assigned to the military orders l which, in re-
turn, received great grants of land in the Alentejo, where the
problem was mostly one of establishing a population and
arranging means for its support, rather than that of conquest.

For the first time this territory became exclusively Portu-
guese. However, that it was not merely an historical accident
the chance decisions of kings and nobles that made the area
Portuguese, is indicated by the boundaries of the Roman Con-
ventus luridicus as well as the boundaries of the church, neither
of which differed greatly from those of present southern Portu-
gal. 2 As has been said above, the Romans were not unconscious
of local cultural differences, and their placement of boundaries
was not capricious. Rather, it was based upon local loyalties,
wherever possible. Certainly this seems to have been the fact
in the north, where the persistence of the Minho and Douro
River boundaries is striking. The conditions in the Alentejo
were in some degree comparable. Here, however, the differ-
ences were considerable, for the Alentejo was thinly populated
and strongly influenced by herding peoples during Moslem,
Visigoth, Roman, and pre-Roman times. This was very different
from the conditions in the north, where the strongly rooted
farming populations always thought of themselves in relation
to one piece of land with fixed boundaries.

The Portuguese Algarve is a case apart. It had been an iso-
lated and individualized territory through most of its existence
until the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the Age of Discover-
ies. The sen as of Monchique and Caldeirao separated it effec-
tively from the Alentejo on the north, and the open coastal
areas to the east of the Guadiana River generally isolated it on

1 H. V. Livermore, A History of Portugal, pp. 98, 135; Edgar Prestage
"The Chivalry of Portugal," Chivalry, pp. 150-151.

2 Antonio Garcia y Bellido, La Peninsula Tberica en los comienzos de
m historia, p. 393.

173

COMPLETION OF THE PORTUGUESE STATE

that side. In the earliest records, the local people were recog-
nized as being distinct from their neighbors. The influence of
Tartessos had reached into it, but without submerging it. Later,
Celtic influences were felt, but still the area remained distinct.
The Carthaginians fished and evaporated salt in nearly a dozen
places along the coast, but changed the ways of life little, if
any. The Greeks had less interest than did the Carthaginians.
The Romans fitted the Algarve into their Conventus luridicus,
which included a larger territory to the north and east. This
obviously was procrustean, but expedient to administration.
However, there is no evidence to the effect that the area was
drawn culturally closer to the territories with which it was
politically associated. Under the Arabs the association with
Andalusia was greater than it had previously been, an obviously
reasonable arrangement in view of the similarities of climate,
vegetation, and exploitation. Nevertheless, the immemoriaUy
old zone of separation, the sterile coastal lands to either side of
Huelva, was again determinative when, at the time of the
break-up of the Moslem Caliphate, one of the little Taifa king-
doms established its eastern boundary along the Guadiana
River.

At the time of the reconquest the Algarve was neither clearly
Spanish nor Portuguese. Its inclusion in the Portuguese state
had nothing at all to do with historical cultural affinity. It was
a matter of political opportunism.

IMPORTANCE OF ATLANTIC POSITION
IN THE PORTUGUESE RECONQUEST

Atlantic position served Portugal well during her period of
southward expansion. Maritime aid shortened the schedule of
the reconquest and perhaps without it Portugal would not have
maintained her independence. When seventy vessels of cru-
saders dropped anchor in the mouth of the Douro at Porto they
were greeted effusively by Aff onso Henriques and persuaded to
join in an attack upon Lisbon. They sailed southward, while
he marched overland to meet them. Between the two forces

174

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

the countryside was devastated, but Lisbon held out. 3 Seven
years later, however, another group of crusaders made up
of several nationalities, including English, Flemings, Germans,
and French, were enlisted by the rallying call to restore Lisbon
to Christian hands, and also by Affonso's promise of all of the
loot and ransom of the city, as well as donations of lands to be
taken from the Moslems. 4 Lisbon fell after seventeen weeks of
siege. 5 Directly after this, Sintra was taken, and Palmela was
found to have been abandoned, as hopeless of defense, when
the Christians arrived.' 1 Silves, in the Algarve, was temporarily
subjugated with the aid of crusaders in 1189. T Alvor was taken
temporarily as well, 8 and in 1217 crusaders took part in the
conquest of Alcacer do Sal. 9

BOUNDARIES

In the quick southern expansion of both the Portuguese and
Castilian-Leonese states the problem of delimitation of their
respective areas could have been the source of disastrous con-
flict. That it was not was largely a matter of enlightened cupid-
ity. In all of Iberia, the drives against the Moslems were aimed
southward or southeastward against the centers of wealth. 10
While the Portuguese were driving south, pointed toward the
Algarve, a small area of prosperity, the Leonese had their eyes
upon Seville and Andalusia, the great Moslem center of wealth,
which under all conquerors had been considered a premium
area.

During the reign of Affonso Henriques, the northern bound-

3 Charles Wendell David (ed. and trans.), De Expugnatione Lyx-
bonensi, pp. 16-17.
*lbid., pp. Ill, 113.

5 Ibid., p. 14.

6 Ibid., p. 179.

7 Joao Baptista da Silva Lopes, Relagao da derrota, naval, faganhas, e
successes dos cruzados que parti mo do escalda para a Terra Santa 'no
Anno de 1189, p. 12.

s Prestage, Chivalry, p. 151.
9 Loc. cit.
10 See Chapter 11 of this book.

175

COMPLETION OF THE PORTUGUESE STATE

ary of Portugal had been established as almost precisely that
of the present. 11 During his life, the northern section of the east
boundary was probably also established approximately along
the line of the present boundary of eastern Tras-os-Montes. 1 -
South of this province, the Spanish-Portuguese boundary be-
tween the Douro and Tejo rivers then ran along the Coa River,
somewhat to the west of the present boundary. Below the Tejo
River, the problem was more complex, as there were fewer of
the physical characteristics useful for boundary lines. This area
was largely bounded through agreements. Due to its lack of
attractions through much of its extent, the precise lines had
little importance. It was at this time that Affonso Henriques of
Portugal and Ferdinand II of Leon, recognizing that they stood
to profit more from Moslem lands than they could from trying
to take land from each other, agreed in the Treaty of Celanova,
probably in 1160, to respect a certain line of division to separate
the lands yet to be conquered toward the south. 1 *

The Portuguese took Evora in the Alentejo permanently from
the Moslems in 1166. It never again fell into Moslem hands,
even in the great Almohad drive of 1191, which captured vir-
tually everything up to the Tejo. With the conquest of Alcacer
do Sal in 1217, the Christians controlled the strong points of
Alcacer and Evora and the territory between them. To the east
of Evora, Moslem control extended north, probably to Marvao,
but during the reign of Sancho II ( 1223-1248) this salient was
eliminated by taking Elvas and Juromenho. The southern

11 J. Leite de Vasconcellos, "Delimitagao da fronteira Portuguesa,"
Boletim da Classe de Letras, XIII (1918-1919), 1282. Not that it would
have seemed stable at the time, for Affonso Henriques had pushed beyond
it as did his successors. They, like Affonso, were ultimately obliged to
renounce their claims.

12 Leite de Vasconcellos believed this to be so. Ibid., p. 1282. However
this may be, the Portuguese culture region had not filled out the territory
that far eastward. See Vasconcellos, reference above, note, p. 160 and
citation of Conde de Sao Payo.

13 Hermann Lautensach, "A Individualidade geografica de Portugal no
con junto da Peninsula Ib erica," Boletim da Sociedade de Geografia de
Usboa, XLIV (1931), 386; Amando Melon y Ruiz de Gordejeula,
Geografia historica espanola, I, 258.

177

COMPLETION OF THE PORTUGUESE STATE

boundary was thereby somewhat straightened, so that it ran in
a gentle arc across Portugal from Alcacer do Sal to Evora to
Elvas. 14 With these strongholds in Portuguese hands, the end
of Moslem occupation of Portugal was in sight.

The exact terms of the Treaty of Celanova are not known,
but it seems probable that the boundary on the south was the
line of the lower Guadiana River. If this was the decision it was
reasonable, as it re-established an immemorially old boundary
that had been serviceable throughout millennia. The Castilian-
Leonese conquest of Seville was completed in 1248, after first
piercing southeastward to Malaga and then following the coast
westward. This was just prior to the conquest of Silves ( 1249-
1250) in the Algarve by the Portuguese, 15 which virtually
established the form of present Portugal.

Only minor adjustments followed. For example, there was a
short period of tension and rivalry for the borderlands along
the Guadiana River. Ayamonte, to the east of the river, was in
Portuguese hands in 1255, and other small territories, now
Spanish, were held by Portugal until 1267. 1G The Castilian-
Leonese crossed the Guadiana River near its mouth, apparently
contrary to the agreement of Celanova, and occupied some
Algarvian towns. Alfonso X believed that he had a proper claim
to the territory, as he had purchased it from the local Moslem
ruler while he (Alfonso) was Infante. 17 In any case, this prob-
lem was settled in 1267, when the Castilian-Leonese king re-
nounced all claim to territory in the Algarve while Portugal
relinquished its castles in present Spain. Later in the century,
in 1281, Serpa, now of the Portuguese Alentejo, was still under
Spanish control, 18 as were the territories north of the Tejo, west

14 Leite de Vasconcellos, "Delimita^ao da fronteira Portuguesa/' Boletim
da Classe de Letras, XIII, 1283-1284.

15 Ibid., p. 1284.

16 Loc. cit.

17 Amando Melon y Ruiz de Gordejuela, Geografia historica espanola,
I, 257-258.

18 Leite de Vasconcellos, "Delimitacao da fronteira Portuguesa/' Boletim
da Classe de Letras, XIII, 1285.

178

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

to the Coa River. It was In 1295 that King Diniz of Portugal
essentially established the present eastern boundaries of Portu-
gal, with one exception. He acquired the areas of the Coa River
basin, Castelo Rodrigo, Sabugal, Campo Maior, and Monforte
in the north, and Serpa, Moura, and Mourao in the south. 19
The only change of importance in Portuguese boundaries since
that time is that of the region of Olivenca, which was Portu-
guese, except for the two-year interim (1657-1658), until the
Spanish took it in 1801. This matter is discussed below.

THE INTEGRATION OF THE SOUTHERN TERRITORIES

By the end of the thirteenth century the question of bound-
aries was no longer a major problem to the national state of
Portugal. The problem had become one of assimilation of the
newly acquired southern territories. The lands south of the
Tejo River were effectively made Portuguese during the four-
teenth and fifteenth centuries. Prior to this time, on the basis of
their physical constitution, climate, vegetation, economic ex-
ploitation, or cultural development, they could have become
Spanish as well as Portuguese.

During these centuries the Castilian conquest of Iberia stag-
nated against the kingdom of Granada, not because of Moslem
strength, but because of the internal quarrels between Castile
and Aragon and the remnant of the immemorially old attitude
of Spanish leaders to derive profit from raiding, looting, and
ransom, which at times took precedence over the permanent
conquest of territory. 20 This situation redounded to the benefit
of Portugal, which was left generally in peace. This Atlantic
fringe, not greatly desired at any time by the Spanish, only
occasionally fell within the focus of their interest. Disturbances
that occurred were minor and quickly settled. Portugal was
given the opportunity of consolidating its territory under the
leadership of the court at Lisbon, which became the center of
political balance in the country. Here the various economic and

10 Loc. cit.

20 Louis Bertrand, The History of Spain, p. 197.

179

COMPLETION OF THE PORTUGUESE STATE

political lines of the state were drawn together and effectively
tied. 21

INTERNAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

After completing the reconquest of its territory from the
Moslems, Portugal promptly set about establishing the eco-
nomic life of the nation. An interesting comparison can be
made between the attitudes and methods of Portugal of that
time and those of neighboring Spain. Differences were clearly
marked in the opposed attitudes toward the exploitation of
land, partly, but only partly, induced by climate. Portugal
established a well-rooted and ultimately prosperous agriculture
in the southern lands taken from the Moslems. The record is
clear as to the intention of the Portuguese kings. Numerous
laws set up provisions under which families settled on the land
for the purpose of planting and harvesting crops. The primary
concern of the Portuguese governments, for long generations,
was to establish a settled peasantry. 22 Unoccupied land was
given to families with the express intention of establishing
permanent cultivation. Uncultivated land reverted to the crown
to be redistributed. One of the most famous of Portuguese kings,
Diniz (or Deniz), was especially active in this, 23 and because of
his contribution to the well-being of his country he is gratefully
known to history as "the Farmer King" (o Rei Lavrador). He
publicly proclaimed that "no baron would lose caste by dedi-

21 Affonso III moved the capital from the north Coimbra and
Guimaraes had both served to Lisbon, in 1248, just prior to the com-
pletion of the Portuguese reconquest. Livermore, A History of Portugal,
p. 134. A. de Amorim Girao speaks of Lisbon, centering upon the sea, as
being the polarizing element bringing diverse parts together. See his
Condicoes geogrdficas e historicas da autonomia politico, de Portugal,
p. 21, and "Origines de Tetat Portugais," Revue Geographique des
Pyrenees et du Sud-Ouest, XI, Nos. 3-4 (1940), 158. His concept is
somewhat mystical but has the basis of reality in it.

22 Virginia Rau, Sesmarias medievais portuguesas, pp. 42 (especially),
54 et seq., 68-71.

23 Damiao Peres, "A Actividade agricola em Portugal nos seculos XII a
XIV, Congresso do Mundo Portugues, II, 469, 471, 472.

180

THE lOTmDUAIITY OF PORTUGAL

eating himself to the soil" - 4 and thus helped to avoid one of the
great Spanish plagues, the distaste for labor. The results of the
efforts of Diniz and others was that at the end of the fourteenth
and the beginning of the fifteenth century, when it entered into
the great period of ""discoveries," Portugal had a prosperous
agriculture.- 3 It had little need for imports or for exports to
obtain foreign currency. Fruits and wine had been exported
prior to this time, 20 and by the end of the fourteenth century
olive oil earlier of little importance entered the export lists.
It appears that home consumption of the olive was then negli-
gible and that the tree had been planted and cultivated chiefly
to provide an export product for cash. 27

DEVELOPMENT OF ECONOMY ON THE SPANISH Meseta

Affairs in Spain were talcing a very different course. Political
control was in the hands of nobles of the meseta whose interest
had been in pastoral industries long before the territory had
been fully conquered from the Moslems, an interest that had
been furthered by the exigencies of the centuries of siege.
During the years of the reconquest, tax exemptions were given
to sheepherders along the routes of migrations, in exchange for
loyalty to and support of the crown. Klein reports dozens of
such exceptions in the documents of the period, 970-1273. 28
These, in turn, apparently harked back to Visigothic regulations
of the Fuero Juzgo, which favored sheepmen in the semiannual
migrations with their flocks. 29 The Visigothic regulations, we

24 Livermore, A History of Portugal, p. 152.

25 Peres, "A Actividade agricola em Portugal," Congresso do Mundo
Portugues, II, 478.

^ Q lUd., p. 466.

27 In the north of Portugal olive oil began gradually to replace butter
in the sixteenth century. See Orlando Ribeiro, "Cultura do Milho,
economia agraria e povoamento," Biblos, XVII, No. 2 (Coimbra 1941)'
645-663.

28 Julius Klein, The Uesta, A Study in Spanish Economic History
1273-1836, p. 162. ^

2 Ibid., p, 301.

181

COMPLETION OF THE PORTUGUESE STATE

may assume, were based on attitudes present in the peninsula
prior to the arrival of the Visigoths. In all probability they were
merely codifications made in the sixth or seventh centuries of
ancient Visigothic and local practices.

Under the Mesta (the sheepowners' organization) the sheep
industry of Spain developed in a fashion somewhat comparable
to that of England. In both cases the industry satisfied the
king's need for cash. Wool, high-priced, compact, readily pre-
served, and with a large world demand, made a good export
item. It became so important to the Spanish kings that they
imported wheat from Aragon to feed Castile, so that there
should be no inducement for farmers to plant grain on pasture
lands. 30 In the fourteenth century Castile had the largest pas-
toral industry in Western Europe and a growing foreign trade.
By the mid-sixteenth century the Mesta, greatly favored by the
crown, was so powerful and arrogant that it took over town
commons and town pastures and other special enclosures for
its flocks. Every device of the government was used to support
sheep raising, 31 obviously to the detriment of planting. Toward
the end of the sixteenth century corregidores sent out by the
central government almost unanimously reported that the
sparsity and poverty of agricultural population was due to the
emphasis on sheep raising. 32 The extent to which this was true
is indicated by the law passed under Ferdinand and Isabel by
which a Mesta member had permanent tenancy of a given field,
either at a rent paid under his earliest lease or, if his flocks oc-
cupied these fields for a season or even a few months without
being discovered by the landowner, for nothing at all. 33

How very different this was from the attitude in Portugal,
where, for the most part, the cultivator was supported against
the herder. 34

30

1 Ibid., p. 314. 31 Ibid., p. 318.

32 Ibid., p. 94. 33 Ibid., p. 328.

34 The Alentejo is the most Spanish of the Portuguese provinces.
Physically there is no sharp distinction to be made between it and Spanish
Extremadura. Historically the two regions have had somewhat parallel
experiences; both were given into the hands of the religious-military

182

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

Clearly such a striking economic difference, with all that it
entails with regard to social attitudes, could contribute to a
separation of die peoples involved and likewise to the ultimate
political division.

orders. The Alentejo is now noted for its great estates and owners, whose
titles, in many cases, come down from the period of the reconquest. As
in Spanish Extremadura, grazing is important, but the farmer was not
sacrificed to the herder. In the Alentejo, now as at the time of Diniz,
there is a blend of pastoralism and agriculture.

T

CHAPTER 14

Development of Portuguese
International Relations

FOREIGN TRADE AND BRITISH ALLIANCES

HE AID GIVEN by north Europeans to Portugal In
the conquest of Moslem cities during the time of the
Crusades was clear demonstration to Portugal of the
strategic importance of its position. Location on the
Atlantic Ocean continued to have strategic importance mili-
tarily during the fourteenth century, but, more than this, it
became a source of economic advantage. Portuguese commerce
grew and its fishing industry expanded. 1 The first commercial
treaty of Portuguese history was made in 1294 with England. A
half century later, in 1353, another treaty was signed with Eng-
land, allowing the Portuguese to fish off British shores. Inter-
nally, industry and mining were encouraged and commerce
expanded as the government supported the development of
commercial fairs throughout the country. 2 Commercial connec-

1 Hermann Lautensach, "A Individualidade geografica de Portugal no
conjunto da Peninsula Iberica," Boletim da Sociedade de Geografia de
Lisboa,XLTX (1931), 390.

2 Mario Gongalves Viana, Rei D. Deriiz, pp. 80-85.

184

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

tions with England developed into a military alliance in 1381. 8
It is a much-argued question among Portuguese today whether
the commercial connections established during this period, and
continued ever since by various treaties and agreements, were
beneficial or detrimental to Portugal. The same may be said for
the military alliance. At first the latter yielded nothing but
trouble, as Portugal was drawn into conflict with Spain over
matters in which it had little interest. Involved were the affairs
of John of Gaunt, who had married the daughter of Pedro the
Cruel of Spain. Later, as Duke of Lancaster, John laid claim to
the Spanish throne and tried to take it by force. His invasions
of Spain were fiascos, and Portugal as an ally, having been
forced to support him, paid the penalty. Nevertheless, it should
not be forgotten that it was archers from England who swung
the balance for a numerically inferior Portuguese army in the
defeat of the heavily armored, mounted Spaniards at Aljubar-
rota in 1385. 4 This victory ended the major threat of the period
to Portuguese independence, arid, incidentally, sounded the
knell of the importance of such cavalry.

The commercial agreements of the later fourteenth century
had followed upon a period of increasing exchange of goods,
the profit from which was available to Portugal during her Age
of Discoveries. It was during the fifteenth century that the
Portuguese kingdom, through her overseas exploration and ex-
pansion, first became consolidated, in spirit as well as in econ-
omy. This was the century of the settlement of Maderia 5 and
the Azores, and of the explorations directed by Prince Henry
the Navigator along the African coast, which ultimately skirted
the Cape of Good Hope to reach India.

3 P. E. Russell, "]oao Fernandas Andeiro at the Court of John of
Lancaster," Revista da Univemdade de Coimbra, XIV (1940), 20.

4 H. V. Livermore, A History of Portugal, p. 175.

5 The islands were known in the fourteenth century but occupied only
after 1425. Orlando Ribeiro, Vile de Madere, p. 6. Settlement probably
took place five years earlier than stated by Ribeiro, or so one of the
earliest documents relating to the fact reports. See Jeronimo Dias Leite,
Descobrimento da llha da Madeira, pp. 15-25.

185

PORTUGUESE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

CONSOLIDATION OF PORTUGAL

A stirring period of Portuguese history this was, and it effec-
tively tied the south particularly the Algarve, which otherwise
might have remained apart in spirit into the Portuguese
nation. Algarvians played an important part in the explorations,
and they took an important part in the conquest of Ceuta, and
other expeditions to follow. It is perhaps more important to
Portuguese consolidation that Algarvians took part in these ex-
ploits than the fact that the romantic, inspiring, and profitable
fifteenth-century achievements were common also to Trasmon-
tanos, Minhotos, Beiroes and Alentejanos. All of them shared
and took pride in the national achievement, and this pride was
focused upon the great port of the lower Tejo River.

The importance of Lisbon is no accident. This is one of the
great natural harbors of the world. Once the western part of
Iberia was established as a national unit, it was mandatory that
Lisbon should become the center of control. Not only is it the
finest harbor of the country, but behind it lies one of Portugal's
most productive areas, one that was prized by both Romans
and Moslems. With the Atlantic orientation emphasized by the
Age of Discoveries, it goes without saying that Lisbon would
inevitably be of supreme importance. It was through Lisbon,
and only secondarily through Porto and lesser ports, that con-
tact was maintained with Africa and the Portuguese possessions
in Asia, with the Azores, Madeira, the Guine colonies, and per-
haps more importantly, with England.

By the end of the fifteenth century, when Castile had finished
her conquest of Moslem territory in the peninsula and might
have turned her ideas of conquest westward to "fill out the
peninsula," Portugal was firmly glued together with a common
pride, common purpose, and common loyalties. In unity the
various, disparate parts were prospering commercially, and all
was based on a thriving agriculture. By this time it was patently
impossible for any part of present Portugal to be dismembered
from the whole without deep and pervading resentment. 6

6 A case in point is the still festering sore of Olivenca. See further in
this chapter.

186

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

THE SPANISH CAPTIVITY

In the sixteenth century, Spain, under Philip II, took Portu-
gal, with some political justification, and held it for the period
known as the Spanish Captivity, from 1580 to 1640. The Span-
ish king had a legitimate claim to the throne. Whether or not
it was the best claim may still be argued. 7 He had strong
Portuguese adherents at the time of union among the Portu-
guese nobles and the higher authorities of the church. The
people of lesser political category and the lower clergy, plus
the general populace, were said to be in opposition, 1 " but as
their opposition was not politically effective, union became a
fact.

Under Philip II, the promises that he originally made were
fulfilled. 9 Portugal remained effectively autonomous. Portu-
guese citizens held the important positions, indeed, virtually all
positions, within Portugal. The laws of Portugal were essen-
tially unchanged. Taxes were not raised to benefit Spain at the
expense of Portugal. Unfortunately, this condition began to
change under the administration of Philip III, and under Philip
IV the policy was completely altered, greatly contrary to Portu-
guese interest. 10

This was a period of inclement political weather for Spain
in Europe. Lack of funds led the king to raise revenues where
he could. Portugal was obviously an untapped source. His asso-
ciates swarmed into the places of preferment there. This would
have been enough to convert even the formerly Hispanophile
Portuguese nobles into enemies. But added to this was the dis-
astrous effect upon Portuguese colonial holdings and Portu-
guese world trade. The English, the Dutch, and other Western
European nations used the Spanish connection as a pretext for
stripping Portugal of valuable foreign possessions. Lisbon de-

7 See his letter of 1579. "Carta de S.M. para los estados de Portugal,
condoliendose de la imierte del Rey D. Sebastian y avisando del derecho
que tiene a la sucesion de aquel reino, 14 de Marzo de 1579," Coleccion
de documentos ineditos para la hixtoria de Espana, XL, 230-232.

8 Rafael Altamira y Crevea, Historia de Espana, III (3rd ed.), 96-97.

9 Ibid., p. 151.

10 Charles E. Nowell, A History of Portugal, pp. 142-144.

187

PORTUGUESE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

clined as a commercial center by reason of competition with
the harbors of England and Holland and, what was felt to be
especially grievous, by the competition of Spanish Cadiz.

Notwithstanding all of this, Portugal, once within the grasp
of the Spanish, could not have hoped for independence if Spain
had not been in dire straits. Spanish troubles were both external
and internal. Externally, her traditional enemies were pressing
her. Internally, separatist movements were of serious propor-
tions. The most important of these was that of Catalonia, where
the first large-scale revolt broke out. The Duke of Braganca and
other Portuguese were ordered to aid in quelling the Catalans. 11
This obviously was a Portuguese opportunity, as Spanish dis-
tress has ever been. Now even the higher members of the Portu-
guese nobility and church rebelled against Spain and succeeded
with a minimum effort. The Duke of Braganca, whose forbear
had knelt smilingly to kiss the hand of Philip II at the begin-
ning of the "captivity/ 7 12 was drafted to become the leader of
the revolt. He certainly was not an inspired leader and had
to be pressed into taking the position. Notwithstanding this,
Portuguese success made him the first of a new dynasty when
the decisive victory was won at Vila Viosa, in 1665, and the
final peace treaty was signed in 1668.

Since the period of the "captivity" the changes in the Spanish-
Portuguese border have been minor, with the exception of the
territory of Olivenca. This area, lying to the south of Elvas,
was accepted as being Portuguese in the Treaty of Alcanices,
made between Dom Diniz of Portugal and Ferdinand IV of
Castile, at the end of the fourteenth century. In the war of
restoration following the "captivity," it was temporarily held
by Spain, but was returned to Portugal in the treaty of 1668. 13

pp. 144, 148.

12 "Relation de la entrada del duque de Braganza y del de Barcelos su
hijo en esta corte a besar las manos a S.M. en 17 de enero 1581," Colec-
cion de documentos ineditos para la historia de Espana, XL, 383. This
document describes their joy and their affection for Philip II.

13 J. M. de Queiroz Velloso, Como perdemos Olivenca, p. 8.

188

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

THE QUESTION OF OLIVENCA

The question of the Olivenca territory is difficult to under-
stand because of the slight value of the area in question by any
standards other than sentimental. The matters of international
politics which resulted in its being dismembered from Portugal
were in no way concerned with such a minor territory, and its
international transfer is quite coincidental to them.

Portugal's treaty with England was troublesome to Napoleon.
It was a leak in the dike of his European policy. Through the
Spanish-French "offensive and defensive alliance" an agree-
ment was struck in 1801 for the invasion of Portugal, to compel
her to break her English connections. 14 As a requisite to peace,
Godoy, the close friend of the King of Spain and a closer friend
of the Queen, insisted upon the retention of the Olivena terri-
tory. It is difficult to understand his determination, as the Span-
ish king did not insist upon it, 15 and Godoy earlier had described
it contemptuously as a "child of smugglers/' Perhaps its pro-
pinquity to his birthplace may have induced him to take and
cling to the territory, for Godoy was born in Badajoz, just to
the northeast of the Olivenca area. Or, more likely, its retention
gave him the little prestige which otherwise was lacking to him
in the whole endeavor.

The treaty of the Congress of Vienna awarded the territory
to Portugal. Spain protested this, on no very reasonable grounds,
but finally signed the treaty 16 in 1817. However, this had no
effect upon possession, for Spain continued to hold the territory.
Such unimportant territory surely would have been restored,
had animosities and tension of the time not been involved.
In the year 1817 Brazil occupied Montevideo and feeling in
Spain was strong against Portugal. Portugal tried to exchange
Montevideo for Olivenca. 17 Representations about Olivenga
were continued by Portugal to Spain until 1841. After this, little
was done officially, but the feeling within Portugal has not
changed. "The Group of the Friends of Olivenca" still meets

14 Ibid., p. 37. " Ibid. 9 p. 85.

Ibid., pp. 118, 121. 17 Ifczd.,pp. 128, 130-133.

189

PORTUGUESE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

in Lisbon and hopes for the restitution of this "Portuguese terri-
tory." On the other hand, the Spanish either have lost interest,
or having possession, feel that it is safer not to mention the
matter. The name is not even listed in the accumulated index
of the Boletin de la Real Academia de la Historia. 18

Aside from the Olivena territory, certain small areas have
been amicably passed back and forth between Spain and Portu-
gal as marriage portions: Sabugal, Segura, Alburquerque, etc.,
up to the eighteenth century. 19 In the nineteenth century, sub-
sequent to the Olivenca imbroglio, an increasing attempt was
made by peaceful means to correct the confusion caused by the
marriage dots. In 1864-1866 the Spanish and Portuguese gov-
ernments acted to adjust the matter of the Contenda de Mourn,
involving territory south-southwest of the Olivenca lands. 20 In
1893 this matter was completed amicably and another adjust-
ment made in the same manner in 1926. 21

With a growing foreign trade, and in a period of exploration,
expansion, and achievement, Portugal developed a new national
self-consciousness. An increasing feeling of unity in common
purposes, loyalties, and national pride hastened the settling of
boundary disputes and gave Portugal definitive borders.

18 1877-1944. Vicente Castaneda Alcover.

19 Hermann Lautensach, "Geopolitisches von der Spanisch-Portugie-
sischen Grenze," Zeitschrift fur Geopolitik, V (1928), 371-372.

20 J. Leite de Vasconcellos, "Delimitacao da fronteira Portuguesa/'
Boletim da Classe de Letras, XIII (1918-1919), 1289.

21 Lautensach/'Geopolitisches von der Spanisch-Portugiesischen Grenze,"
Zeitschrift fur Geopolitik, V (1928), 372.

CHAPTER 15

The Geography of
Portuguese-Spanish Boundaries

HROUGHOUT this book there are occasional refer-
ences to boundaries, considered sometimes historically
and sometimes, implicitly at least, as natural phe-
nomena. As they are always potentially important,

T

and sometimes crucially so, a few pages may be taken profitably
to consider them.

BOUNDARIES THROUGH AREAS OF LITTLE ATTRACTION

In Iberia international boundary lines have been drawn, for
the most part, through zones of limited desirability. Roughly
nine-tenths of the Spanish-Portuguese border is located in such
areas, and the reflection of this fact is to be seen in the sparse-
ness of population nearly everywhere along the frontier (Fig.
13 ). 1 The one important exception is the area of the lower

1 Figure 13 Is taken from Figure 4 of Luis de Hoyos Sainz, La Densidad
de poblacion y el acrecentamiento en Espafia. The statistics used by
Hoyos Sainz were those of the 1940 census. Unfortunately the statistics
from the 1950 census are not available in such form as to be used for a

192

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

Minlio River, which is certainly not a region characterized by
undesirabilitvv

It should be remembered that the lower Minlio River was
the northern limit of the "desolation" of Alfonso I. Cities to the
south had been eliminated. The filling-in of the routes of com-
munications and the restoration of cities up to that line was
accomplished by a southern group working northward from
Porto. In the area of the lower Minho River a group of settlers
that was oriented politically and economically toward the south
met one of Galicia, where ancient connections eastward toward
Spain had never been broken for more than short periods of
time. 3

Less than fifty miles upstream from the mouth of the Minho
River the boundary turns sharply southward, and the popula-
tion density falls off rapidly as the boundary rises along the
slopes up to the high, winter-cold Serra de Laboreiro. After
crossing the sharp, deep gorge of the Lima River, the border
turns eastward again, following near the crests of other high
mountains, the serras of Gerez and Larouco. To the east of
Larouco is another exception to the general unattractiveness of
locale along the border. This is the upper valley of the Tamega
River, between the Portuguese city of Chaves and the Galician

new map. However, a comparison of the 1950 statistics for the sparsely
settled border region of Spain where it touches eastern Portugal with
those used by Hoyos Sainz shows that there has been no material change
In the situation in the decade. That border area is still, as it was in 1940,
a land of slight attraction for population.

For a discussion of the distribution of population along the international
boundary, see Artur de Magalhaes Basto, "A Fronteira Hispano-Portu-
guesa," O Institute, LXX (1923), 62-63.

- This fact is made manifest also by the Hoyos Sainz map of popula-
tion, but the end map of J. Dantin Cereceda, Distribution geogrdjica de
la poblacion en Galicia, makes it even more obvious. Compare this with
the map of Distribuicao da populagao de Portugal based on the 1940
census, published by the Centre de Estudos Geograficos of Lisbon under
the direction of Orlando Ribeiro. Both of the latter references are more
detailed than the work of Hoyos Sainz, but unfortunately they are con-
cerned with limited areas and do not serve for a comparison with the
rest of Iberia.

3 Although the river splits a population cluster, it has served usefully
as an administrative boundary as far back as prehistory.

194

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

town of Verin, A fertile valley, protected from the worst of the
winter cold by uplands to the west, north, and east, it supports
a modest cluster of population, and there is no break between
settlement on the Portuguese side and in Galicia. In addition,
the mountains, virtually encircling Verin, separate it clearly
from the rest of Galicia. Its normal associations should be with
Chaves and southward into Portugal, and one would have ex-
pected the boundary line to have been established along the
barren uplands lying between the upper Limia ( Lima ) and the
middle Miiio (Minho) rivers, thus putting Verin into Portugal.
However, another factor was more important than geography
in the matter. Verin lies on the early pilgrimage road from
Zamora to Orense, which skirts the north border of Portugal,
and from there leads into Santiago de Compostela. 4 At Orense,
this road is joined by that from Leon. The importance of San-
tiago as a religious and pilgrimage center after the ninth cen-
tury was a sufficient reason for Verin to have remained under
Spanish control. The area was remote from the center of
authority of either Leon or Portugal. It is a relatively unim-
portant area to either state. An arbitrary political decision,
although seemingly in violation of local economics, could have
been enforced without difficulty, for actually political bound-
aries had, and have, very little effect upon such distant and
self-sufficient communities. A Portuguese author recently refer-
ring to the area of Soajo, in the northeast of the Minho Prov-
ince near the Spanish border, described the inhabitants thus:
"Soajeiros are very independent. They are not irritated by the
laws. They just do not pay much attention to them. Their lead-
ing men' are the authorities recognized by the people. Their
customs are their laws . . ." 5 No doubt life in Verin continued
much in the same way that it would have done had the border
been drawn elsewhere.

Beyond the valley of the Tamega River the northern bound-
ary line is again to be found at sufficient elevation so that the

4 Antonio Lopez Ferreiro, Historia de la Santa A. M. Iglesia de Santi-
ago de Compostela, V, p. 91.

5 Basto, "A Fronteira Hispano-Portuguesa," O Institute, LXX, 104.

195

FOBTUGTJESE -SPANISH BOUNDARIES

Trds-oS'Montes: a Tin Mine

factor of undesirability is marked. This is tlie higher,, more
mountainous part of the province of Tras-os-Montes, where the
limitation of population is imposed, not only by slope, but by
duration of winter cold.

The east boundary of Tras-os-Montes is drawn through an
extension of the Leonese plateau, high and sufficiently exposed
to the winter cold of interior Iberia to inhibit agriculture. For
all of Tras-os-Montes another fact is of importance. The prov-
ince lies in the lee of the mountains that separate it from the
"green Minho." The orographic barrier causes a rainshadow
condition. Drought thus adds another factor to the impoverish-
ment of cultivation. 6 All of this "explains the relative isolation
and the tenuous social and economic relations between the
human groups on the two sides of the frontier. This isolation
is particularly marked along the Leonese frontier. In almost all

6 Vergilio Taborda, Alto Trds-os-Montes, p. 9. Also see Jorge Dias,
Rio de Onor, especially pp. 79-85. The village of Rio de Onor, which
Dias describes, straddles the international boundary at the extreme north-
east of Tras-os-Montes. It is a small oasis of fertility in an otherwise
barren land.

197

PORTUGUESE-SPANISH BOUNDARIES

of the territory between the Macas and the lands of Vinhais,
the character of the frontier is much like that of a marca (a
remote frontier province), so slight is the human occupation.
He who goes from Braganca to Puebla de Senabria [sic] has
the bleak sensation of travelling in 'Terra nullius domini'
so spoke a geographer bom and raised in the region. 7

The physical conditions of eastern Tras-os-Montes extend
beyond the Douro until south of the Serra das Mesas, a Portu-
guese continuation of the great central mountain system of
Spain. Both elevation and rainshadow continue to limit pro-
ductivity along the boundary zone, South of this, the lack of
rainfall and the winter cold continue to be the obstacles to a
more productive use of the land, but the causes are somewhat
different. Although elevation decreases, outbreaks of cold from
the Iberian meseta are a threat to crops through the winter.
The growing season is longer than that of Tras-os-Montes ? but
so is the period of summer drought and, unfortunately, in a
land of little rain, the evaporation rate is high during the spring
and fall when there is maximum precipitation. 8

There are minor areas of increased population near the east-
ern border of Middle Portugal, those of Sabugal, Portalegre,
and Elvas. In each case there is a higher rainfall, due to some-
what greater elevation. In no case, however, could the popu-
lation be called dense. 9 Beyond Elvas, toward the south, the

7 Taborda, Alto Trds-os-Montes (author's translation), p. 21.

8 The sparseness of population of the Alentejo has been attributed to
the system of latif undid, the great estates. This may be accurate but one
cannot be sure. We do not know that exploitation of a territory so
limited by physical factors could be effectively accomplished in small
units. Absentee ownership, also typical of the area, is, of course, another
matter.

9 The equation of increased population and rainfall is obvious in a
comparison of the rainfall in H. Amorim Eerreira, Carta Pluviometrica
de Portugal of 1943, with population density as shown on the Ribeiro
map (see Note 2 of this chapter). One anomaly should be noted. The
population density of the Spanish province facing the Sabugal area is
virtually as low as any in Spain, although rainfall there, as in Sabugal,
is a little higher than in the adjacent areas in Spain. This condition, in
part at least, may be ascribed to the effects of the Mesta and the dis-

v cV"

199

PORTUGUESE-SPANISH BOUNDARIES

obvious lack of appeal of the boundary zone continues to be
shown in the sparseness of population.

The length of the summer season and the evaporation rate
both increase as total rainfall remains low down to the area of
the lower slopes of the Serra do Caldeirao, which separates the
Alentejo Province from the Algarve. Rainfall is higher here, but
this advantage is more than offset by the nature of the soil
materials. These schists do not allow an easy penetration of
water. Rainfall mostly drains off by surface flow, and in these
now deforested mountains each winter season sees the removal
of another sheet of surface. Two generations ago, directly fol-
lowing upon the clearing of the natural vegetation, the harvests
were copious. Now after years of erosion, the yield is but a
fraction of that of the early years. Only at the extreme south-
east is there a slight increase in the population of the border
zone, but this is limited to the Portuguese side. There are two
reasons for it: first, the mine of Sto. Doniingos, producing cop-
per and sulphur, supports several thousand people gathered
immediately around it; 10 and second, the recently developed
area of early vegetable production near Vila Real de Santo
Antonio at the mouth of the Guadiana River supports another
concentration of population. Truck gardens here supply Lisbon
with early vegetables. This phenomenon developed during
recent generations as a result of improved transport. This popu-
lation area, like that of Sto. Domingos, appears as merely a spot
against the border, for it is limited to the coastal sands and does
not follow the Guadiana upstream. Across the Guadiana, the
Spanish area lacks the economic advantage of Vila Real. Span-
ish growers would not be able to compete in the Lisbon market
due to import restrictions, and there is no nearby home market
to support such an enterprise.

10 This cluster appears on the Ribeiro map as a spot of settlement in
an otherwise meagerly inhabited area. Such an agglomeration of popula-
tion probably exists also in the area near the mines of Rio Tinto, which
are geologically akin to those of Sto. Domingos and represent the Spanish
counterpart. Unfortunately there is no Spanish map of sufficient detail
available to substantiate such an assumption.

200

THE JXDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

RIVERS AS BOUNDARIES

National states require more than a frontier zone. They re-
quire a boundary line, This line in Iberia, more often than not,
is a river; such is the case for over 60 per cent of the Portuguese
land boundaries and for over 70 per cent of the eastern border.
Along the eastern border, rivers are signally useful, for they
not only traverse land of little attraction, but have carved deep,
steep-sided canyons into the plateau surface, which effectively
cut communications. Fifty-four per cent of the eastern border
is along such canyons, A striking example is that of the inter-
national Douro between Paradela and Barca d'Alva, where the
river flows through a canyon, at times with vertical walls several
hundred feet high, for over 76 miles, falling 1600 feet in the
distance. The great descent takes place through a series of falls
and rapids, making navigation impossible. 11 A left-bank tribu-
tary of the Douro, the Agueda River, and farther south its
affluent, the Touroes, both act as boundaries. The Agueda cuts
a deep canyon; the Touroes does so in part of its course.

South of the Touroes, in the relatively high country between
Ciudad Rodrigo and Guarda, the boundary does not follow
rivers but is drawn across the headwaters of several small
streams. It follows approximately the divide between the drain-
age of the Agueda and Coa rivers. Beyond this area, in the Tejo
drainage, streams again are used to mark the boundary line;
the Torto and the Erges both run well below the surface of the
country on either side of them. Where the Erges meets the
Tejo, the boundary line turns sharply west, to follow the larger
stream in a deep canyon to its juncture with the Sever. Here
it again turns sharply, in an acute angle, to follow the canyon
of the latter almost to its source in the Serra de S. Mamede.
South of the Serra there is another stretch of boundary that is
erratic and oblivious of hydrography. This is part of the terri-
tory passed back and forth in the marriage portions of the

11 None of the Portuguese boundary streams are navigable for useful
distances except at the lower extremities.

202

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

seventeenth and eighteenth centuries whose ultimate posses-
sion was decided arbitrarily, although in amity, and largely in
disregard of physical factors.

A water course again becomes the boundary along the lower
Caia River just before it joins the Guadiana. The boundary
follows this river and the Guadiana almost to the latitude of
Mourao, where there are other lands of frequent exchange be-
tween the Iberian monarchs. These too were finally apportioned
amicably, although arbitrarily in terms of physical factors. The
boundary of Portugal here runs well to the east of the Guadiana.
At the latitude of Serpa the boundary meets and follows the
Chanca (Chanza) River to its juncture with the Guadiana, and
then again follows the Guadiana. This is the ultimate stretch
of the international boundary southward to the ocean.

In Iberia, particularly, another fact makes rivers useful as
boundaries. This is the great difference between flood and low
water, and the resulting economic uselessness, which makes
them barriers rather than means of communication. The bare,
deforested Iberian meseta has a quick run-off, and the floods
of the rainy season are sudden and devastating wherever the
streams are not incased between high canyon walls. This factor
makes the use of the streams difficult for virtually any purpose. 12

Rivers have served Portugal and Spain as boundaries as far
back in time as we have knowledge of the peninsula. For Rome
it was standard practice to use them, and this was especially
notable in Iberia. As stated above, it was the Roman intent,
for reasons beneficial to herself in the matter of control, to fol-
low custom where possible, and her choice commonly mirrored
the established habits of the local peoples. It should not be sur-
prising that later boundary makers and present governments
have found rivers to be equally serviceable.

12 The Guadiana at Mertola increases over eighty feet (25 meters)
above low water during flood. The Tajo at Alcantara increases up to
nearly one hundred feet (30 meters). Hermann Lautensach, "Lebens-
raumfragen der Iberischen Volker," Lebensraumfragen Europdischer
Volker, I: Europa, p. 505; Pedro M. Gonzalez Quijano, Mapa pluvio-
metrico de Espana, pp. 277 et seq.

203

PORTUGUESE-SPANISH BOUNDARIES

Nevertheless, no matter how useful the rivers have been as
political boundaries, the most important factor in the political
separation of the Iberian countries is the distribution of popu-
lation. Some of the distribution is, no doubt, induced by the
fact of the boundary, but it is clearly obvious that the physical
nature of the land has limited population density along the line
of the present frontier.

CHAPTER 16

Environment and Culture

fjuvwv

VER THE HABITABLE world there have been re-
peated migrations. With negligible exceptions, even
the most undesirable regions have had repeated con-
tacts with outsiders and have experienced changes
brought about by the transfer of culture entailed in such move-
ments of peoples. As both sedentary and migrating groups of
farmers are tenacious of their culture traits, usually there is
not an elimination of those of either (unless one population is
obliterated as were many tribes of American Indians ) , but only
a partial elimination and an amalgamation of the residues.

The process of amalgamation is ordinarily not difficult, for
migrating farming groups do not bring entirely different atti-
tudes to the areas of their choice. As they do not wander aim-
lessly and choose casually, but rather select areas to their taste,
the ideas and techniques that they bring with them are fitting
to the situation. Unless forced, such migrants choose regions
that are environmentally satisfactory to their knowledge, equip-
ment, and techniques. Thus one might expect that cultivated
areas would exhibit few radical changes in the fundamental

206

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

forms of land use throughout their historical development, and
that their inhabitants would likewise show few radical differ-
ences in attitudes toward the exploitation of the land from
those people who preceded them. This conclusion seems to be
borne out in Iberia.

PERSISTENCE OF CULTURE REGIONS OF THE PENINSULA

The relative importance of Iberian areas seems to have
changed but little through all of the time of their development.
Through history and the periods of time illuminated for us by
archaeology, the peripheries have been prized and the interior
has been an area of little appeal, except for the centuries of
Visigothic control. These Romanized herders preferred the
grazing lands of the bleak meseta to the productive agricultural
lands of the fringes. On the peripheries the Mediterranean
coasts have been consistently underlined, since the first Neo-
lithic fanners arrived there, as the premium area of all of the
peninsula. The area of the northern mountains, while not so
heralded as the Mediterranean zone, has supported a relatively
dense population throughout all time for which there is infor-
mation. The Romans found large numbers of people who had
been long rooted there, and even the recent industrialization
of parts of this zone, which has made dramatic social and eco-
nomic changes, has not brought about an important shift in the
balance of population of the peninsula. The west coast has con-
sistently had less appeal for migrants perhaps because it lies
farther from the source of immigration but the population
density has been surprisingly high, at least in the northwest,
since the late Neolithic period.

On the other hand, the historical zones of disinterest remain
unattractive for habitation. The meseta has always been an area
of sparse settlement, an area of the import of ideas and techni-
cal improvements from the peripheries, where contact with
other cultures has begotten political and military ferment but
hardly cultural originality. Even the reconquest, although

208

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

chiefly the achievement of meseta kingdoms, was given its first
impulse in the northern periphery by men of the north or possi-
bly the northwest; l it was aimed at the profit to be had from
the southern peripheries. It has been, and is, an area of strong
local cultural character, not because of its own ferment, but
because it is an area in which the contrasting ideas of disparate
peripheries can be blended. Aside from simple geography, this
fact is the basis of its political importance.

Whatever knowledge we have of the historical and prehis-
torical backgrounds of the peninsula indicates that changes
have been "more of the same." Migrations and cultural intro-
ductions have come from comparable environments, and the
areas chosen by immigrants have been elected in terms of en-
vironmental preference. Changes have been mostly of degree,
not of kind. The developments of culture and techniques have
increased earlier capacities of the areas involved, but have not
changed their relative importance. Humid Iberia has been
dominantly Central European in the basis of its culture for as
far back as we have knowledge. This equates with the facts of
climate, soils, and vegetation, which are closely similar to those
of Central and northern Europe. The same can be said for the
south. The Iberian Mediterranean bears the same relation to
the eastern Mediterranean in its physical nature and in its cul-
tural development.

The population pattern of the present is approximately that
of all earlier time, insofar as we know it, with unimportant
exceptions. For example, during the "desolation" of Alfonso I
and the succeeding centuries, in parts of the meseta the popu-
lation was reduced. This change, however, merely accentuated
the normal condition, sparsity in the meseta as opposed to the
well-populated peripheries. Today the areas of slowest increase
in population are meseta provinces, which have a history of the
lowest population densities of the peninsula. 2 Even Madrid

1 See above, Chap. 11.

2 Luis de Hoyos Sainz, La Densidad de p oblation y el acrecentamiento
en Espana, pp. 178-179.

SP

210

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

does not bring about an exception to the general historical
situation. Its growth, comparable to the recent world-wide
urban growth and the growth of political capitals, has been
great. If the figures for the present city are added to those of
the meseta, the relation between meseta and periphery is some-
what altered, but insufficiently to shift the balance. The areas
of greatest increase are the historical and prehistorical zones
of attraction along the fringes.

The same conclusion may be bolstered more specifically in
the case of Portugal. For example, the interest of the Mediter-
raneans became attenuated with the decrease northward of the
summer dry period. The Carthaginians limited their activities

almost entirely to the south and southwest coasts. The Greeks

j

may have traded with the north, but the last of the Greek
-oussa names toward the north was that near Lisbon, at the
beginning of the transition from Mediterranean to north Euro-
pean climate. The Mediterranean Romans showed an avid
interest in Galicia at the outset, 2 but after the gold sands were
worked out they paid scant attention to any of the north except
for purposes of strategic control. The same lack of interest was
true of the Visigoths, and the Moslem distaste for the rainy
lands was obvious. They could not have been evicted so quickly

had thev wanted to hold the north.

'

On the contrary, the Central Europeans made their strongest
mark in the north country that was similar to their homeland
in Central Europe. Not only did they like it but they needed
the forests for their animals/ whereas the Mediterraneans, with
their more casual interest in the care of animals, had no such
point of view. This forestland exploitation was a feature of the
life of the pre-Indo-European immigrants as well as that of the
Celts and of the Swabians.

The middle region of Portugal, between the Tejo and Douro

3 Juan Maluquer de Motes, "Los Pueblos de la Espana celtica," His-
toria de Espana, Tomo I, Vol. Ill, Ft. 1, 9, 79.

4 Grahame Clarke, "Farmers and Forests in Neolithic Europe," Antiq-
uity, XIX, No. 74 (June, 1945), 67, 70.

211

ENVIRONMENT AND CULTURE

rivers, is transitional geomorphologically, in climate, soils, and
vegetation. Culturally it shows a mixture of traits, derived from
the north on the one hand and from the south on the other.
This is clearly indicated in the maps taken from Lautensach's
study of Arabic and Germanic topographic names. 5

A review of the history of land-use in the peninsula indicates
a considerable conservatism for all major areas.

5 Hermann Lautensach, "Uber die topographischen Namen arabischen
Ursprungs in Spanien und Portugal," Die Erde, Nos. 3-4 (March-April,
1954), pp. 219-243.

CHAPTER 17

The Geographical Basis of

Portuguese Political Independence:

A Summation

W

HILE THIS WORK is primarily concerned with
Portugal, the evidence considered in it has been
drawn widely from areas throughout the peninsula.
In conclusion it will be well to focus especially upon
Portugal, in a summation of the factors that have conduced to
its separateness and to its independence. I shall discuss them
in what seems to me to be the order of their importance.

In the first place, and of crucial importance, are the imme-
morially old cultural differences between the humid periphery
of the peninsula and the meseta. These are basically associated
with the physical differences of the areas involved. Thus all of
the north and northwest is set apart from the remainder of the
peninsula. In the second place, the present international border,
throughout most of its extent, runs through zones of disinterest,
imposed by physical conditions. These zones have isolated
Portugal, especially in the north, the cradle area of Portuguese
independence. Thirdly, there was the political isolation of pres-
ent northwest Portugal during parts of the eighth and ninth

213

A SUMMATION

centuries, following the creation of the so-called "desert" lands
by Alfonso I. During this period an early line of cultural sub-
division was made more pronounced, and economic ties were
re-oriented in such fashion that Galicia and Portugal were
drawn apart. Fourthly, there were the troubles of the meseta
kingdoms prior to and at the time of Affonso Henriques. Al-
though this fact was of lesser importance than the factors out-
lined above, it had great immediate importance. The Portu-
guese had freedom of action that would have been impossible
had they been opposed by the full power of the kings of Leon.
The above factors are salient, for they were crucial to the
establishment of freedom in the germ cell of the Portuguese
state, whereas the extensions southward from that region were
partly a result of political opportunism, after the northern
nucleus had been established as an independent unit.

Aside from the factors enumerated above, there were others
less important, yet contributing to Portuguese independence.
For example, even after the time of Affonso Henriques, Spain
continued to be beset with internal difficulties which occupied
her attention. Even more important than this was the Spanish
concern with the loot to be gained from the Moslem kingdoms
to the south. These Spanish preoccupations offered Portugal
relative freedom from threats to her independence. Particularly
after 1267, peace offered the opportunity to assimilate the
southern lands, the Alentejo and the Algarve, which had be-
come integral parts of the Portuguese state by the time that
Spain had ended its Moslem conquest in 1492.

Much has been written and said about Portuguese position
relative to the Atlantic. Part of it has been sheer mysticism. But
after that element has been discarded, there is merit in the idea
that this position has contributed to Portuguese independence.
In the first place, due to partial isolation, it offered Portugal
the opportunity to turn her back upon Iberian turmoil, just as
Holland was able to ignore Germany. 1

1 For this comparison see Otto Jessen, "Politisch-geographische Be-
trachtungen iiber die Iberische Halbinsel," Freie Wege Vergleichender
Erdkunde, pp. 118-139, especially pp. 131-134.

214

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

Yet no freedom of action would have served, had Portugal
not been equipped to take advantage of it. Here again good
fortune was a factor. Few countries have a harbor of the quality
of that of Lisbon, and the harbors of Porto, Setubal, and others
along the west and south coasts serve most parts of the country.
They are an obvious invitation to the sea. Not the smallest item
in Portugal's luck is the fact that none of the international rivers
is navigable into Spain, so that there has been no tendency for
either country to follow the stream beyond the border. How-
ever, as ports may be valuable even without further inland
navigation, the Portuguese harbors might have tempted Spain
had she needed them. Luckily for Portugal there is no part of
Spain, except for the very sparsely populated section in the
province of Caceres and a part of the middle Tajo River valley,
that is closer to Lisbon than to one of the Spanish ports. The
ria, or river-mouth, harbors of Galicia are infinitely superior to
the harbor of Porto, as that of Cadiz is to those of the Algarve.

The association with England was mutually advantageous.
Both countries profited by the trade that was established.
Portugal also received much-needed support on several occa-
sions when otherwise it might well have lost its independence.

Portuguese independence and the reconquest of her terri-
tories from the Moslems came concurrently with improved
techniques in navigation, and when Portugal was in a position
to take advantage of them. These techniques were to be
credited partly to the Arabs, who also offered specific knowl-
edge as to the areas of Africa, and within Portugal there were
men suitable to the opportunities available. Under such condi-
tions opened the great Age of Discoveries, commonly associated
with the name of Prince Henry, the Navigator. The Age of
Discoveries created a sense of common experience, common
pride, and a community of interest for all parts of the country,
welding it together as perhaps nothing else could have done.

The division between modern Portugal and Galicia cannot
be satisfactorily explained by age-old differences, even by those
that have existed since prehistoric time notably the physical
differences between the two peoples involved, and the sugges-

215

A SUMMATION

tive fact of the Roman division along the Minho River because
modern Galicia is closely allied to Portugal in its language and
customs. The separation of the two areas, politically, results
partly from the fact that Galician physical connections with
Spain are better than those between Spain and Portugal. It
results also, again in part only, from the fact that its emotional
ties with Spain have been strong ever since the time of the
establishment of the great peregrination to Santiago de Com-
postela, which bound the area to Spain in a very positive sense.
There is also the important fact, albeit negative, that Galicia
did not take part with Portugal in the Age of Discoveries. The
sense of common experience in this achievement which is felt
by all Portuguese is lacking to Galicians. On the contrary,
through the centuries that have elapsed since Galicia was sepa-
rated from the culturally similar Minho, its economy has be-
come closely geared into that of Spain. Its harbors and pastoral
industry have become essential to Spanish economy. Through
time, the political boundary, somewhat arbitrary at first, has
become culturally satisfactory, if not perfect.

THE OFFSIDE POSITION OF PORTUGAL

Through the history and prehistory of the area of present
Portugal, there seems to have been a general lack of interest
in the region. The area was offside and apparently little ex-
ploited throughout most of prehistory. There is almost no evi-
dence of Upper Paleolithic occupation nor of settlement during
most of the Neolithic, much of the Bronze Age, and consider-
able parts of the Iron Age. The Tartessians had but slight
interest even in the Algarve, an area physically similar to their
own. To the conquerors of Iberia, Portugal has always been a
largely unwanted, but sometimes troublesome land, which had
to be taken under control to secure the places of greater profit
elsewhere in the peninsula, Phoenicians and Carthaginians
were little attracted, except to small areas of the south. Greek
interest was even less than that of the Punic peoples. To the
Romans only limited areas were attractive; the remainder was

216

THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PORTUGAL

occupied and controlled only because its occupants presented
a threat to their use of desirable territories, especially that of
the lower Guadalquivir River. Within Portugal proper the only
areas of primary importance for the Romans were those of the
lower Tejo River, Beja, Evora, the Algarve in part, and a few
others of lesser importance. For the most part Roman interest
was attracted elsewhere. The Visigoths had even less interest
than did the Romans but assumed control for essentially the
same reasons that had prompted Rome. It was Swabian in-
transigence that prompted the Visigoths to end the independ-
ence of the Swabian kingdom in the late sixth century. Moslem
interest, like that of the other Mediterranean conquerors, was
mostly confined to areas that are climatically Mediterranean.

The exceptions to the above statements apply to the north.
To the unidentified prehistoric Central European farmers, and
to the Celts and the Swabians, the humid northwest of the
peninsula was attractive in itself, and the early fundamentals
of Portuguese culture are largely to be traced to these peoples.

Spain at times has wanted to "fill out the peninsula," but with
no more than this vague and ultimately profitless mystique on
the one hand and the meagreness of Portuguese territory on
the other, she has made little consistent effort. Actually, Spain
needs very little that now appertains to Portugal. The economy
of Portugal, like that of Spain, is based on agriculture and stock
raising, and the chief products of one country duplicate those
of the other. Furthermore, Spain has already in her possession
nearly all of the good irrigable lowlands near the border, those
of the Guadiana, the Alagon, the Salor, and the Tajo around
Alcantara. To the west of these there are large areas of little
promise, for the most part, before the fertile coastal regions are
reached. The only good reason for Spanish desire to control
Portugal now aside from the megalomaniac drive for prestige
through size which afflicts most national states would be
based upon a matter of defense strategy.

Portugal is an excellent land for a frugal, self-sufficient agri-
culture. The proof of this can be seen in the number and variety
of things that can be cultivated there. But it does not offer

217

A SUMMATION

surpluses for absentee owners nor does it lend itself to large
ownership. 2 It offers no prize for conquest, but only satisfaction
to humble fanners on the land. The values of Portugal are
fundamental but unappropriable. They can be realized only by
people with the age-old traditions and techniques of frugality,
such as those of the Portuguese farmers.

2 The Alentejo, of course, is to be excluded from the above two state-
ments. It is an area of large estates and of absentee ownership. The great
bulk of the population of Portugal is not there, however, but in areas for
which the above statements are valid.

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Index

Acid-humic soil: areas of, 47

Acorns: Celtic dependence upon, 78

Affonso Henriques: revolts of, against
Theresa, 167; proclaims independ-
ence of Portugal, 168; reign of, 174,
175, 213; mentioned, 155, 165, 173,
174

Afonso Henriques. See Affonso
Henriques

Africa: Germanic tribes move to, 127

Agadir. See Gadir

Agriculture: affected by rivers, 19; ef-
fect of, upon soils, 48; of Neolithic
people, 64-65; of Megalithic people,
66; early Portuguese lag in advance-
ment of, 68; of the Celts, 73, 75-78,
84-85; as women's work, 75-76; of
Tartessians, 92; in the Algarve, 106;
in southern Portugal, 117; along
humid fringe, 108-109; introduction
of draft animals into, 119; affected
by plow, 119; varying attitudes of
Germans toward, 122-123; as factor
in migration, 129; in the Algarve,
141; and irrigation by Moslems,
141, 142; in Tejo Valley, 142; af-
fected by war, 158-159, 160, 161;
affected by isolation of Portugal,
162-163; in relation to love of the
land, 172; Portuguese, encouraged

by kings, 179-180; and use of the
land, 179-182; as base of Portu-
guese economy, 185, 216; on Leon-
ese plateau, 195; at mouth of
Guadiana River, 199; effect of soil
on, 199; rich lands for, 206; and
contribution of farmers to Portu-
guese culture, 216

Agropedic soil: areas of, 48

Agueda River: as boundary, 200; men-
tioned, 21, 22

Akhila: allied with Moslems, 144-145

Akragas: 98n.42

Alagon River: irrigable lands of, 216

Alalia: founding of, 96; mentioned, 99

Alalia: battle of, 114

Alans: entry of into Iberia, 124-125;
location of in Iberia, 125; move of
to Africa, 127; mentioned, 122

Alava, province of: Celts in, 72

Alazis, Abde (Moslem leader): 139,
145

Albuquerque: 189

Alcacer do Sal: Moslem conquest of,
139; under the Moslems, 142, 143;
falls to crusaders, 174, 175; men-
tioned, 89 n. 4, 91, 158

Alcala: site of, 67

Alcalar dolmen: development of, 67

Alcanices: 169

230

INDEX

Alcafiices, Treaty of: 187
Alcantara: 12, 202 n. 12, 216
Alentejo Province: physical character-
istics of, 26, 29; soil of, 50; vege-
tation of, 58; Argaric finds in,
69 n. 31; Moslem conquest of, 139;
Moslems settle in, 141; inclusion of,
in Portugal, 171-172; influence of
herding peoples on, 172; blend of
agriculture and pastoralism in, 182
n. 34; growth of nationalism in, 185;
sparseness of population in, 197 n.
8; area of large estates, 217 n. 2;
mentioned, 23, 213. See also Lower
Alentejo; Upper Alentejo

Alexander II (Pope): 164

Alexander III (Pope): supports Portu-
guese independence, 168

Alfonso I: conquests of, 148; extends
Christian control, 148; Desert Zone
of, 148-151, 192, 208, 213; men-
tioned, 140

Alfonso II: receives aid from Charle-
magne, 151; document of, 153;
mentioned, 156

Alfonso III: Chronicle of, 140, 146;
resettlement policy continued, 152;
moves capital to Lisbon, 179 n. 21;
mentioned, 142, 156

Alfonso VI: death of, 165; war with
Affonso Henriques, 168; mentioned,
156, 160, 164

Alfonso X: 177

Alfonso of Aragon: marriage to Urraca,
165; defeats Almoravides, 160-161;
mentioned, 167

Alfonso the Great. See Alfonso III

Alfonso Raimundez: 166

Algarve Province: physical character-
istics of, 30; rainy season of, 36;
climatic similarity of, to North
Africa, 38; winter conditions in,
41 n. 6; soil of, along coast, 50;
Argaric culture in, 69; Ligurian
people in, 91; Carthaginian settle-
ments along coast of, 106; Moslems
settle in, 141; inclusion of, in Por-
tugal, 171-173; isolation of, 172;
part played by, in Portuguese ex-
plorations, 185; Romans in, 216;
mentioned, 213

Aljubarrota: Portuguese \ictoryat, 184

Aljustrel: copper mines of, 106

Almacari: cited, 146 n. 10

Al-Mansur: crushes revolts, 158; death
of, 159; mentioned, 154

Almeria, province of: 60

Almeria culture: spread of, into Iberia,
65; excavation of, at Los Millares,
86

Almohades: aid Iberian Moslems, 161;
and drive of 1191, 175; mentioned,
172

Almoravides: aid Iberian Moslems,
160; mentioned, 172

Alturas Mountains: 12. See also as
Montanhas

Alvao Mountains: 11, 12. See also as
Montanhas

AJvor: falls to crusaders, 174

Amarela Mountains: 19

Andalusia: Almeria culture in, 65;
silver mines of, 89; Ligurians in, 91;
association with Algarve, 173; Mos-
lem center of wealth, 174; men-
tioned, 106

Animals: domestication of dog, 61;
veneration of, 74, 75; as food, 75;
Celtic dependence upon fat of, 78;
draft, introduction of, into agricul-
ture, 119

Aquae Flaviae. See Chaves

Aquitaine: 108

Arabs: in Moslem army, 139, 140;
influence on Portugal, 214

Aragon, province of: quarrel with
Castile, 178; wheat of, 181; men-
tioned, 160

Ardobast (Visigoth king): 145

Arganthonios (Tartessian king): men-
tioned, 96 n. 32; reign of, 97

Argaric culture: 69

Arian creed: Swabian acceptance of,
135

Aristotle: quoted, 82

Arosa: rias of, 55

Arts and crafts: of Magdalenian cave
culture, 61; of Paleolithic hunters,
60-61; of Neolithic people, 64; of
Megalithic people, 66-68; and
sepulchral structures, 67; and cam-
paniform vase, 67; and dolmens, 66,
67; and venacos, 74-75

231

INDEX

Asdingian Vandals: area settled by, in
Iberia, 125; and move to Africa, 127

Asia Minor: lack of tin in, 93

As Montanhasi extension of, into the
Beiras, 21; mentioned, 12

Astorga: founded, 116; mentioned,
139, 170

Astorga, province of: taken by Alfonso
I, 148

Asturias, province of: culture of, 63,
64; Celts in, 72; Celtic wagon in,
73; Moslems in, 146; physical an-
thropology of, 168 n. 20; mentioned,
12, 60, 113, 139, 150

Asturica Augusta. See Astorga

Atlantic coast of Portugal: 46. See
also Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean: influence of, on Iberia,
32; importance of, in extension of
Portugal, 173-174; importance of,
in reconquest, 174-175; as aid in
military operations, 173-174; stra-
tegic importance of, 183, 185, 213.
See also Oceans

Augustus (Emperor): division of
Iberia under, 118; mentioned, 116

Austria: Hallstatt culture in, 83 n. 62

Avila Gate: 22

Avila province: uerracos of, 74; taken
by Alfonso I, 149

Ayamonte: held by Portugal, 177

Azorean high: areas of, 36, 38, 39;
mentioned, 41

Azores: settlement of, 184

Badajoz: site of, 142; prince of, 159;

birthplace of Godoy, 188
Balearic Islands: Argaric culture in,

69; mentioned, 95
Baltic Sea: 45
Barca d'Alva: 19, 21, 200
Barcelos: 153
Barley: cultivation of, in Portugal, 68;

cultivated by Celts, 75
Basalt deposits: of coastal fringe, 26
Basque area: Celts in, 72
Basques: in Iberia, 91
Bay of Biscay: 38, 40 n. 5
Beech Region: of Western Europe,

52, 54
Beira Littoral: physical characteristics

of, 24, 26

Beira Provinces: soil of, 47; growth of
nationalism in, 185. See also Beira
Littoral; Lower Beira; Transmon-
tane Beira; Upper Beira

Beja: Turditanians in area of, 91; aids
Seville, 139; Moslems in, 143;
Romans in, 216

Bejar Gate: 22

Belgas Celts: 83-84

Berbers: in Moslem army, 139; dis-
satisfied with Arab rule', 147; revolt
against Arabs, 148

Berlenga Islands: 26

Black Sea: 122

Boniface ( Roman governor ) : 127

Boundaries: determining factors of,
3-4; of Spain, 177-178; in relation
to communication, 200; set by
rivers, 200-203. See also Portugal:
boundaries of

Bracara Augusta. See Braga

Braga: relative humidity of, 35; sum-
mer rainfall in, 36; founding of,
116; Metropolitan of, 131, 170;
capital of Swabians, 131; Priscillian
heresy in, 135; Moslem destruction
of, 139; conquered by Alfonso I,
148; attempt to re-establish, 151;
mentioned, 118, 153

Braganca: 197

Braganca, Duke of: leads revolt
against Spain, 187

Bramao, Luis: soil map of, noted,
51 n. 13

Braulius of Saragossa: 137

Brazil: occupies Montevideo, 188

British Columbia: Intense cultivation
of soil in, 48

British Isles: soil of, 48; and contact
with Galicia, 92. See also England

Bronze: used in Argaric culture, 69;
Greek demand for, 102

Bronze Age: in Portugal, 68, 69, 216;
migration into Iberia during, 71;
Celts in Iberia during, 73; men-
tioned, 66, 67

Brutus, Decimus Jrniius: campaign of,
113, 116

Brythonic Celts: 84

Burgos: soil of, 48

Bussaco Mountains: 22

232

INDEX

Cabreira Mountains: 11
Caceres: as Moslem fort, 161
Caceres Province: soil of, 50; men-
tioned, 214

Cadiz: as commercial center, 187;
harbor of, 214; mentioned, 129. See

also Gadir

Caia River: as boundary, 202
Calcareous materials: soils developed

from, 46, 47, 77; occurrence of> 50;

mentioned, 57
Caldeirao Mountains: in the Algarve,

30; serras of, 172; mentioned, 29,

41 n. 6

Calem: 125 n. 35
Calixtus II ( Pope): 156
Callaeci: as name of area, 113
Callaeci: of Northern Portugal, 111
Callaeci Bracarenses: under Romans,

118; mentioned, 112
Callaeci Lucenses: under Romans,

118; mentioned, 112
Campaniform vase: 67
Campo Major: acquired by Portugal,

178

Cangas de Onis: battle near, 145, 147
Cantabria: similarity to Aquitaine,

108; mentioned, 75
Cantabrian Mountains: podsol soil of,

45; herders of, 66; mentioned, 60
Cantabrian region: 87
Cape Carvoeiro: 26
Cape Finisterre: 35
Cape Gata: 94
Cape Mondego: 26
Cape S. Vicente: 94
Capsian culture: spread of, into Iberia,

61
Capsians: 61-62. See also Immigrants

to Iberia

Caracalla (Emperor): 118
Caramulo Mountains: 21, 22
Carboniferous schists: of lower Alen-

tejo, 29
Carmona: Phoenician ivories from,

93 n. 22

Cartage Nova. See Mastia
Carthage: founding of, 94; expansion

of, 97; rivalry with Greece, 97-98;

rise in power, 101-102; use of

mercenaries, 103106; demands on

Iberians, 114; mentioned, 99, 113
Carthaginians. See Immigrants to

Iberia: Carthaginians, from eastern

Mediterranean cultures (ancient)
Cassiterides: Greek term for Galicia,

92

Castelo Branco: 23
Castelo Rodrigo : acquired by Portugal,

178
Castile: rise of, 159-162; quarrel with

Aragon, 178; pastoral industry of,

181; mentioned, 157
Castros: origin and structure of, 79,

80-81
Catalonia: use of iron in, 71; revolt

against Spain, 187; mentioned, 113,

157, 160

Catholicism: in Iberia, 133-136
Caucasia: lack of tin in, 93
Cavado River: 14
Celanova, Treaty of: 175, 177
Celtiberian War: 77
Celts. See Immigrants to Iberia: Celts,

Central Europeans (early)
Cempses tribe: 82, 83
Center, the. See Centra, o
Central European Iberia: 9
Central Europeans, early. See Immi-
grants to Iberia: Central Europeans

(early), Celts

Centra, o: as core of Portuguese in-
dividuality, 14; extension into the

Beiras, 21

Cerealis (Roman governor): 118
Cerealis (settlement). See Evora
Ceuta: conquest of, 185
Chanca (Chanza) River: as boundary,

202

Charlemagne: aids Alfonso II, 151
Chaves: bishop of, 135; conquered by

Alfonso, 148; mentioned, 169, 192
Chestnuts: of northwest Iberia, 53; as

source of food, 78
Christians: reconquest of Iberia by,

144-163; and policy of raid for

quick profit, 160, 161
Church, Portuguese: independence of,

170

Cinesios tribe: 82, 83, 117n.24
Citdnias: origin of, 79

233

INDEX

Citerior Spain: 118

Citrus cultivation: of North Portugal
55 b

Ciudad Real: soil of, 50

Ciudad Rodrigo: 170, 200

Climate: as related to culture, 3-10
passim, 61; of river valleys, 22; dif-
ferences in, between oceanic and
interior regions, 32; effect of Atlantic
Ocean on, 32-33, 34-42 passim;
and vegetation, 32, 36, 52, 53-58
passim; of the Meseta, 34; of
oceanic Iberia, 34-35; and seasonal
drought, 35-36, 56; of Mediter-
ranean Portugal, 36; changes in,
from north to south, 36, 38;
summer conditions of, 38-39; as
affected by meteorological action,
38-41, 57; winter conditions of,
39-40; and equinoctial conditions,
40-41; effect of, upon soils, 47,
47_48, 49, 50, 51; as related to
migration, 63; in relation to coloni-
zation, 117, 123, 140-143; as factor
in isolation of Portugal, 162-163;
differences of southern provinces
from nuclear Portugal in, 171;
along Portuguese-Spanish border,
190-203 passim; as persistent factor
in continuity of cultures, 208

Cluny, monks of: 156

Coa River: valley of, 22; direction of
flow, 22; drainage of, 22, 200; as
boundary, 175; mentioned, 178

Coast, the: of Minho Province, 14, 21

Coastal fringe, the: topography of,
24-26

Coimbra: diocese of, 131; Moslem
conquest of, 139; Arab settlement
near, 142; aid of, in repopulating
North Portugal, 152; destroyed by
al-Mansur, 158; mentioned, 12, 21,
22, 24, 143, 153, 179 n. 21

Collectivism: among Vacceos, 77-78;
origin of in Iberia, 78 n. 42; re-
placed by individual ownership,
119-120

Colonization: of Greeks, 94-97; af-
fected by topography, 140-143
passim; affected by climate, 140-
143 passim. See also Immigrants to
Iberia; Migration

Commerce: of Phoenicia, 87; of
Greeks, 87, 101, 103; opportunity
for, in Iberia, 89; of early traders
in Iberian waters, 89; in metal, 93,
94, 95, 97; and pirates at Gadir, 94;
in olive oil and wine, 98; impor-
tance of, in Phocaea, 99; routes for,
99, 101, 102; as opening for coloni-
zation, 114; of Moslems, 143; fos-
tered by Atlantic Ocean, 183; with
England, 183, 184, 214; in thriving
Portuguese economy, 185; of Por-
tugal during Spanish captivity, 188,
187

Communication: ease of, related to
national culture, 11-12; and con-
struction of roads for control of
provinces, 116; Braga as center of,
131; routes of, for Moslems in Iberia,
143; and truck-farming, 199; lack
of, as related to boundaries, 200

Conglomerates: of coastal fringe, 24;
of the Algarve, 30

Congress of Vienna: awards Olivenca
to Portugal, 188

Conios. See Cinesios

Contenda de Moura: 189

Conventus luridicus: boundaries of,
172; inclusion of Algarve in, 173;
mentioned, 118

Copper: in Almeria culture, 65; in
Argaric culture, 69; as trade article
of Tartessians, 92; of the Alentejo,
106; of Sto. Domingos, 199

Cordoba: Berber march on, 148; men-
tioned, 145, 158

Corgo River: valley of, 169

Corregidores: 181

Covadonga, battle of: 145 7 147, 148

Crafts. See Arts and crafts

Cretaceous sandstones: of coastal
fringe, 24, 26

Croesus ( Lydian monarch ) : 99

Crusaders: in Portugal, 173, 174

Crystallines: 12, 16

Culture, national or ethnic: defined,
3-4; changes in, 4, 70; Paleolithic,
60-61; Capsian, 61-62; of Muge,
62-63; Asturian, 62-63; of Neo-
lithic people, 64-65; of Almeria, 65,
86; of Megalithic people, 66-68;

234

INDEX

and problems of chronology, 68;
Argaric, 69; of Vacceos, 77-78; ad-
justability of, 81, 85, 159; of eastern
Mediterranean (ancient), 86-107
passim; Greek, 86-93, 94-101 pas-
sim; of Minoa, 86-87; political
disparities of, 90-93; homogeneity
of, 90; difficulties in identification
of, 90-93; Phoenician, 93-94 pas-
sim; Carthaginian, 99-107 passim;
spread of, in relation to communi-
cation, 106; of humid fringe, 108-
113; Roman, 116-120 passim, 133-
136; affected by introduction of
plow, 119-120; of Germans, 121-
136 passim; contribution to, by
Swabians, 124, 133, 136; as factor
in choice of land for settlement,
127, 127-129; and Roman institu-
tions, 133-136; of Moslems, 139-
143 passim; patterns of, as factor in
migration, 140-143; problems from
lack of understanding of, 148; dif-
ferences of southern provinces from
nuclear Portugal in, 171; ambiguity
of, in southern Portugal, 178; use
of land in Portuguese and Spanish,
179-182; related to economics, 182;
importance of customs in, as laws,
194; persistence of regions of, in
Iberia, 206-211

of the Celts: 71-79. See also Im-
migrants to Iberia: Celts

as related to climate: 3-10 passim.
See Climate

and environment (physical) : relation
to a geographical area, 310 pas-
sim; differences in, from geographi-
cal region, 111; as affected by
physical conditions, 131; relation to
environment, 204-211; as determi-
nant in choice of new environment,
204-206

relation of, to political boundaries:
117-118, 157, 172-173, 202. See
also Portugal: boundaries of

political influences on: 131, 137.
See also Political developments

in relation to Portugal's offside posi-
tion: 68. See also Portugal: offside
position of

of Portugal: similarities to Spanish
culture, 4-5; differences from Span-
ish culture, 45; differences in rela-
tion to regions of Portugal, 9; related
to nationality of Portugal; unified,
185; early fundamentals of, 216.
See also Portugal: nationality of,
isolation of

and religion: under Roman rule,
133-136; as factor in maintaining,
145-163 passim. See also Religion

as related to soils: 3-10 passim. See
also Soils

as related to topography: 3-10 pas-
sim, 14. See also Topography

Cynetes: See Cinesios

Cyrus the Mede: 99

Del Villar, Emilio H.: and classifica-
tion of soils, 46, 47

Deniz (Portuguese king). See Diniz

Denmark: soil of, 48

Depression of S. Marcos: 29

Desert Zone of Alfonso I: establish-
ment of, 149; conflicting theories as
to origins of, 149-151; resettlement
of, 152-154; mentioned, 148-151,
192, 208, 213

Diniz (Portuguese king): establishes
eastern boundary, 178; known as
Farmer King, 179-180

Discoveries, Age of: 184, 214

Dog: domestication of, 61

Dolmens: possible origin of, 66; areas
of location, 66, 67, 80. See also
Alcalar

Dolomite beds: of the Algarve, 30

Dom Diniz: of Portugal, 187

Douro River: as southern limit of
podsol soil, 46; settlements on, 152
n. 35; as boundary, 172, 200; men-
tioned. 12, 16, 22, 23, 26, 56, 111,
116, 139, 169, 173, 175, 197. See
also Duero River

Drought. See Climate

Duero River: 16, 19, 21, 77, 149, 156.
See also Douro River

Dune sand: of Portuguese coast, 26;
areas of, 50

Ebro River Valley: Almeria culture
in, 65

235

INDEX

Economics: and topography, 19. See
also Topography

Edrisi: cited, 142, 143; twelfth-century
report, 161

Eforos: geography by, 82

Egiga (Visigoth king): 144

Egitania. See Idanha a Velha

Egypt: pilgrims from, 156

El Argar: site of Argaric culture, 69

El Batallador. See Alfonso of Aragon

Elvas: taken by Christians, 175, men-
tioned, 197

Emerita Augusta. See Merida

England: commercial treaties with
Portugal, 183-184; military alliance
with Portugal, 184; Portugal's asso-
ciation with, 214. See also British
Isles

Entre-Douro-e-Minho. See Minho
Province

Entryways to Portugal. See Immi-
grants to Iberia: passageways used
by

Ephesus: 96

Epipaleolithic people: at Muge, 63

Epipaleolithic Period: 61

Equinoctial conditions: in Iberia, 40-
41

Eratosthenes: cited, 91

Erges River: as boundary, 200

Espinho: 24

Estremadura: physical characteristics
of, 24, 26; soil of, 57; importance
of grazing in, 182 n. 34; mentioned,
24

Etruria: 99

Evora: Moslem conquest of, 139; taken
from Moslems, 175; Romans in,
216; mentioned, 117

Exploration: effect of, on Portuguese
nationality, 184; age of, 184, 214.
See also Migration; Immigrants to
Iberia

Fafila: successor to Pelayo, 148

Farmer king. See Diniz

Faro: rainfall in, 38; Moslems settle

near, 141
Fault lines: of Minho Province, 14; of

Upper Beira, 22; along Serra da

Estreta, 24; on edge of Monchique
Mass, 29; of the Algarve, 30
Ferdinand I: victories of, 159-160;
divides kingdom, 160; mentioned.
155 n. 47

Ferdinand II of Leon: 175
Ferdinand IV of Castile: 187
Ferdinand V: 181

Ferdinand the Great. See Ferdinand I
Fighting: loved by Celts, 79
Figs: of North Portugal, 54, 55; in

Algarve economy, 106
Figueira da Foz: rainfall in y 38
Fishing: early form of among Astu-
rians, 64; opportunity for, in Iberia,
89; at Gadir, 94; in southern Por-
tugal, 106; in the Algarve, 173
Flax: cultivated by Celts, 75
Flints: of prehistoric peoples, 64
Foia ( syenite formation ) : 29
Food: animals as, 75; grain as, 75, 76,
77, 142; nuts as, 76, 78; fruits
as, 76; communal distribution of,
77; figs as, 106; grapes as, 117; and
political difficulties, 148
France: podsol soil of, 45
French Brittany: contact with Galicia,

92

French settlers: in Iberia, 164
Fruits: as export article of Portugal,

180

Fuero Juzgo: applied in Leon, 159;
cited, 180

Gadir: foundation of, 93-94; threat to
Tartessos, 98; mentioned, 103. See
also Cadiz

Galega soil: 48

Galicia: summer in, 35, 36, 39; podsol
soil of, 45; acid-humic soil of, 47;
vegetation of, 55; rainfall in, 55;
Celts in, 72; Celtic wagon still used
in, 73; venacos in, 74; trade with,
89; metal trade of, 92; decline of
prosperity in, 101-102; under Au-
gustus, 116; agriculture in, 119;
Swabian influence on, 124, 129;
cultural similarity to North Portugal,
152-153; rebels against Leon, 154-
155; reasons for separation from
Portugal, 157, 169-170, 214-215;

236

INDEX

Raymond as viceroy, 164; part taken
by Theresa, 167; physical anthro-
pology of, 168 n. 20; entryways
into, 170; Tamega River Valley as
border of, 194; Roman interest in,
210; ria harbors of, 214; cultural
similarity to Portugal, 214-215;
mentioned, 12, 19, 157; separation
from Portugal, 214-215

Garcia (Galician king): revolt against,
155

Gates of Hercules: 101

Gathering: as form of economy, 78

Gelmierez, Diego (Archbishop): 156

Geologic history: in creation of land-
forms, 3-10 'passim, 11-31 passim

Geology. See Geologic history;
Topography

Gerez Mountains: serras of, 192;
mentioned, 11, 12. See also as
Montanhas

Germans. See Immigrants to Iberia:
Germans

Gijon: 146

Glacial Period: 61, 63

Godoy: insists Olivenga kept by
Spain, 188

Goidelic Celts: 71, 84

Gold: as trade article of Tartessians,
92

Grain: in Tejo Valley, 142

Granada: fall of, 162; mentioned, 178

Granite formations: of Minho prov-
ince, 12, 14; of Serra da Estrela,
24; soils developed from, 46

Grape cultivation: of North Portugal,
55; introduction of, 98 n. 42; 117

Greeks. See Immigrants to Iberia:
Greeks

Group of Friends of Olivenca: 188

Guadalajara province: 61

Guadalquiver River: agriculturists of,
66; Tartessians in, 91; metal traffic
in, 92, 93; silver mines near, 102;
Moslems in, 143; Romans in area
of, 216; mentioned, 9

Guadiana River: Celts living near, 82;
flood plain settled by Arabs, 142;
as boundary, 177, 202; lands of,
216; mentioned, 30, 172, 173, 199,
202 n. 12

Guarda: settled in 1197, 170; men-
tioned, 12, 22, 200

Guarda Gate: 22, 23

Guimaraes: document of 841 from,
153; battle near, 167; mentioned,
151, 153, 179 n. 21

Guipuzcoa, province of: 72

Hallstatt culture: 80n.49

Hallstatt techniques: of Goidelic Celts,
83

Hannibal: army of, 103, 104

Helvetians (Celts): 122

Henry (Prince) the Navigator: 184,
214

Henry of North Portugal: marriage to
Theresa, 164; increases strength,
166; death of, 166

Herculano: cited, 149, 168 n. 20

Herding: of Megalithic men, 66; of
the Celts, 73-75, 75, 78, 84-85; at
Gadir, 94; along humid fringe, 108-
109; reduced by introduction of
plow, 119; varying attitudes of Ger-
mans toward, 122-123; as factor in
migration, 127-129; effect of mili-
tary raids on, 163; in Alentejo, 172;
and use of land, 180-182; attitude
of Visigoths toward, 180-181; as
Spanish industry, 180-181; by Visi-
goths, 206; as base of Portuguese
economy, 216

Hermos (Gediz) River: 96

Herodotus: 82, 95

Hesiod: cited, 91

Hiram of Tyre: 93

Holland: soil of, 48

Holly Region: vegetation of, 54; men-
tioned, 52

Homen River: 14

Homo Sapiens: appearance of in
Iberia, 60

Horsts: of Marao and Padrela, 14

Huelva: area of, 91, 173

Huelva helmet: 94 n. 24

Humid Iberia: vegetation of, 53-56;
subdivision of, 54-56; dominantly
Central European in culture, 208

Humid siallitic soil: area of, 47

Hunting: by Paleolithic men, 60, 61;
affected by climate, 63; by Celts,
75, 76n.29

237

INDEX

Iberia: See Atlantic Ocean; Bounda-
ries; Central European Iberia; Cli-
mate; Culture; European Iberia;
Humid Iberia; Immigrants to Iberia;
Mediterranean Iberia; Oceanic
Iberia; Oceans; Occupations; Poli-
tical developments; Population;
Portugal; Portuguese; Rivers; Spain;
Temperature; Topography; Vegeta-
tion

Iberian culture: possible foundation
of, 65. See also Culture

Iberian mercenaries: used by Carthage,
103-106

Iberian Peninsula. See Iberia

Ibiza: founding of, 97; mercenaries
from, 103; mentioned, 95, 106

Ichnoussa. See Sardinia

Idanha: diocese of, 131

Idanha a Velha: Moslem conquest of,
139

Idari, Ibne: cited, 146

Idatius (Bishop): 135, 152 n. 35

Illyrian people: 71

Immigrants to Iberia: attracted to en-
vironments comparable to previous
homes, 208-211; and contributions
of, to Portuguese culture, 216

attitudes of, to importance of Por-
tugal. See Portugal: offside position
of

Carthaginians: appearance in Iberia.,
87; domination of western Mediter-
ranean, 99-101, 103-107; war with
Greeks, 99-101; settlements in Por-
tugal, 106; influence on Algarve,
173; in Portugal, 210, 215; men-
tioned, 216

Celts: 71-85; migration of, into
Iberia, 70, 71; spread of, through-
out Iberia, 71-73; economy of, 73-
78, 84-85; veneration of, for ani-
mals, 74, 75; first contacts with
earlier Iberians, 79; and knowledge
of iron, 79; and love of fighting, 79;
houses of, in Iberia, 81; ao^'ustability
of, 81, 85; spread o culture of, 82;
Roman identification of, in Iberia,
82; modern opinion regarding
identification of, 83; subdivision of

on language basis, 83-85; variations
among, 84-85; Mediterranean influ-
ences on, 85; appearance in Iberia,
87; used as mercenaries, 103; and
resistance to Romans, 114, 115; and
contact with Swabians, 129; influ-
ence of, on Algarve, 17S; in Por-
tugal, 210, 216; contributions of, to
early Portuguese culture, 216. See
also Belgas; Brythonic; Goidelic;
Helvetians; Vacceos

Central Europeans (early): 70-85;
migrating into Iberia, 9; Urnfields
people, 70; Indo-European peoples,
70-79; mark of, on Portugal, 210,
216

-eastern Mediterranean people (an-
cient): 86-107; earliest contacts,
86-87; a westward movement, 87-
89; Punic settlers, 89; reasons of,
for migration, 89. See also Immi-
grants to Iberia: Phoenicians, Car-
thaginians, Greeks

French leaders; 164

Germans: 121-136; migration with
Celts, 70, 85; two divisions of, 122;
culture of, 122-124; differences of
in attitude toward land, 123-124;
and distribution of lands, 124-125;
spread of power of, in Iberia, 124-
127

Greeks: 65, 94-97; encounter Tar-
tessians, 65, 92, 93; in contact with
Iberian Celts, 82; appearance in
Iberia, 87, 89; early contacts with
Iberia, 90, 98, 114; and lack of tin,
93; settlements of, 95; intimacy of,
with Tartessians, 97; relations with
Iberians, 97-99; competition with
Phoenicians, 97-99; war with
Carthage, 99-101; myths of, and
Carthaginian domination, 101; com-
mercial activity in Iberia ended,
103; influence of, on Algarve, 173;
in Portugal, 210, 215. See aho
Phocaean Greeks

Moslems: 137-143; entry into
Iberia, 138; conquest of Iberia, 139-
143; areas of Portugal preferred by,
141-143; dissension among king-
doms of, 171-172; in Portugal, 216;

238

INDEX

loss of Iberia through the recon-
quest, 144-163

passageways used by: 60, 61-62,
64, 86, 113, 124, 169

Phoenicians: 63, 97-99; early con-
tact with Iberia, 90; contact with
Tartessians, 92, 93; found Gadir,
93, 94; relations with Iberians, 97-
99; competition with Greeks, 97
99; in Portugal, 215

prehistoric: 60-69; Paleolithic hunt-
ers, 60-61; Capstans, 61-62; post-
Paleolithic, 62-68; muge colony,
62-63; Asturians, 63-64; Neolithic
people, 64; from the Sahara to
Almeria, 65; Megalithic phenomena,
66-68

Romans: 113-120; conflict with
Carthaginians, 113; entry into
Iberia, 113-114; resistance to, 114-
115; conquest and settlement by,
1 1 6-1 17 ; administrative divisions
of, 117-118; effect on social and
economic life of Iberia, 119-120;
introduce individual ownership of
land, 120; lasting nature of changes
effected by, 120; in Portugal, 210,
215, 216 '

Swabians: 122-125: as west Ger-
mans, 122; blend with Celts, 122;
economy of, 123; contribution to
Portugal, 123; locations in Iberia,
123-125, 129, 131; entry into Iberia,
124; defeated by Visigoths, 127,
137; contact with Romans, 129;
contacts of, with Celts, 129; bounda-
ries of kingdom of, 131; land sys-
tem of, 133; in Portugal, 210, 216;
influence of, on Portugal, 216

Visigoths: as East Germans, 122;
economy of, 122; entry into Iberia,
125; alliance with Rome, 125; de-
feat of Vandals and Alans, 125-127;
location areas of, in Iberia, 129;
absorb Swabians, 137; decline of, in
Iberia, 138; resurgence of, 144-147;
influence of, on Leon, 159; and
Iberian region of control, 206; fond-
ness of for herding on meseta, 206;
in Portugal, 216

Individuality of Portugal. See Por-
tugal: individuality of

Intermediate siallitic soil: area of, 47,
49

International Society of Soil Science:
43

Iria Flavia: diocese of, 140

Irish Celts: veneration of animals by,
75; mentioned, 76

Iron: introduced into Iberia, 71; Celtic
knowledge of, 79; increased use of,
102

Iron Age: Portugal during, 215; men-
tioned, 83 n. 62, 84 n. 62

Isabel of Spain: 181

Isidore of Beja: cited, 145

Italicus, Silius: cited, 111

Ivories, Phoenician: from Carmona,
93 n. 22

Jalaqui, Ibn: kingdom of, 142
James (Saint): pilgrimage to tomb of,

155-156
Jerez helmet: earliest Greek find of,

in Spain, 94 n. 24
John of Gaunt: 184
Jurassic age formations: of coastal

fringe, 24, 26; of the Algarve, 30
Juromenho: taken by Christians, 175

Kolaios: voyage of, 96

La Corufia: 12

Lamego: diocese of, 131; bishop of,
140

Lancaster, Duke of. See John of Gaunt

Landforms: of Northwest Portugal,
11-14; of Tras-os-Montes, 14-19; of
the Beiras, 21-26; of the Alentejo,
28-29; of the Algarve, 30. See also
Fault lines; Horsts; Mesas; Pene-
plain; Schists; Topography

Larouco: serras of, 192

La Tene culture: 83, 84 n. 62

Latif undid system: 197 n, 8

Lead: trade article of Tartessians, 92

Leon: 170

Leon Province: border zone near, 19;
relative humidity of, 35; soil of, 49;
Celts in, 72; taken by Alfonso I,

239

INDEX

148; devastation of by al-Mansur,
154; during resettlement of north-
west, 156-157; resettlement of, 157,
169; decline of, 158-159; object of
Moslem attack, 162; mentioned, 160

Lerida province: 60

Libyans: 62

Ligurian people: location in Iberia,
90, 91; mentioned, 71

Lima River: 12, 19, 153, 192. See also
Limia River

Limestone: in the Algarve, 30; occur-
rence of, 50

Limia River: 116, 194. See also Lima
River

Lisbon: rainfall in, 38; fortified by
Rome, 116; Moslem conquest of,
139; during Moslem times, 142;
falls to crusaders, 174; Portuguese
court at, 178; center of control in
Portugal, 185; contribution to na-
tional solidarity, 185; decline dur-
ing Spanish Captivity, 186, 187;
importance of harbor of, 214; men-
tioned, 24, 151

Littoral area: of the Algarve, 30

Los Millares: Almeria culture excava-
tions at, 86

Lower Alentejo: great plain of, 29

Lower Beira: landforms of, 23; men-
tioned, 26

Lower Paleolithic Period: 62

Lucus Augusti. See Lugo

Lugo: Moslem destruction of, 139;
conquest of, 146 n. 10; mentioned,
118, 139, 151, 170

Lusitania: as Roman administrative
division, 117, 118; mentioned, 75,
113. See also Middle Portugal

Lusitanians: of central Portugal, 111,
112; resistance of, to Rome, 114,
115; character of, 114-115; men-
tioned, 168, 169

Lutraria compresa: 63 n. 10

Macas River: 19, 197
Maderia: settlement of, 184
Madrid: 208, 210
Madrid Province: 61
Magdalenian cave art: traces of, 61
Magdalenian hunters: 63, 64

Main River: 122

Mainake: founding of, 97; destroyed

by Carthaginians, 101
Malach. See Malaga
Malaga: site of, 89, 101; mentioned,

177

Malaga Province: 61
Mallorca: 95

Manichaean heresy: in Iberia, 135
Manzanas River. See Macas River
Marao Mountains: 11, 14
Marca: 197
Marca. See Catalonia
Marls: of the Algarve, 30
Marseille. See Massalia
Marvao: 175

Massalia: La Tene culture in, 84 n. 62;

founding of, 96; center of Greek

trade, 101; alliance with Rome, 114;

mentioned, 82

Mastia ( Massia ) : Silver mines of

102; mentioned, 129
Materials, raw. See Resources, natural
Medellin: as Moslem fort, 161
Mediterranean Iberia : dommantly
eastern Mediterranean in culture,
208; mentioned, 9
Mediterranean migrants: into Iberia,

9

Mediterranean South of Portugal: cli-
mate of, 36
Megalitbic phenomena: area of, 80;

mentioned, 66-67
Meloussa. See Menorca
Menorca: 95

Mercenaries: drafted from Iberia by
Hannibal, 103-106; effect of, on
Iberia, 104
Merida: settled, 116; Metropolitan of,

131; decline of, 142
Mertola: 202 n. 12
Mesas: of Serra da Estrela, 23
Meseta: uniqueness of, 8, 9; extension
of, into Portugal, 14; extension of,
into Upper Beira, 21; extension of,
into Transmontane Beira, 22; cli-
mate of, 34, 39, 40; rainfall on, 41;
soil of, 46; vegetation of, 54; early
culture of, 61, 62; Celts settle on,
85; Visieoths, settle on, 129, 206;
during Alfonso Ts desert zone, 149-

240

INDEX

150; resettlement of, 157-158;
Moslem influence on, 157-158;
economy of, 180-181; basis of poli-
tical importance of, 206; sparse
population of, 206-210; mentioned,
11, 12, 32, 85, 38, 104, 127, 155,
161, 162, 163, 170, 171, 197, 202,
212, 213

Mesozoic formations: of coastal fringe,
26; of the Algarve, 29, 30; soils
developed from, 46

Mesta ( sheepowners' organization ) :
power of, in Spain, 181; effect of,
on population density, 197 n. 9

Metal Age: comes to Iberia, 65

Metals: of Portugal, 69; attract early
settlers to Iberia, 89; Tartessian
trade articles, 98. See also Metal-
working; Minerals

Metal- working: in the culture of Al-
meria, 65; early Portuguese lag in,
68-69; in Bronze culture, 70; with
iron, by Celts, 71; for weapons of
Celts, 79; of Tartessians, 92. See
also Metal Age; Metals; Minerals

Meteorologic action centers: of the
Iberian Peninsula, 39-41

Mica schists: in Tras-os-Montes, 49

Middle Portugal: landforms of, 21-
24; vegetation of, 56-57; climatic
conditions of, 56-57; Germanic in-
fluence in, 131, 133; Moslem period
in, 141; as battleground, 141; Al-
fonso II's advance into, 151; eastern
border of, 197; transitional area,
211. See also Lusitania

Middle Tertiary formations: of Serra
da Estrela, 23

Migration: as related to culture, 4,
4-5, 9-10, 127, 127-129, 140-143;
and choice of location, 4, 4^-5, 9-10,
204-206, 208-211; comparison of
eastern Mediterranean and Central
European movements in, 8789;
opportunities in, for Moslems, 139;
and amalgamation of cultures, 204-
206. See also Immigrants to Iberia;
Climate; Topography; Soils

Miletus: 96

Military establishments: castros as,
79; dtdnias as, 79; Gadir as, 94

Military orders: used in Portuguese
independence movement, 172

Minerals: in Iberia, 89; as factor in
migration, 89

Minho Province: physical character-
istics of, 11-14; summer drought in,
36; podsol soil of, 45; farming in,
48-119; vegetation of, 59; stone-
working in, 80 n. 53; Swabians' in-
fluence in, 129, 136; during time of
desert zone, 150; as germ of future
Portugal, 152-153; barons of, revolt
against Galicia, 155; resettlement
of, 169; growth of nationalism in,
185

Minho River: as boundary, 165, 172,
192; area of lower, 192; mentioned,
19, 111, 112, 116, 153. See also
Mino River

Mining and metal-trading: by Greeks,
95

Mino River: basin of, 169 n. 24; men-
tioned, 194: See also Minho River

Minoa: possible early contact of, with
Iberia, 86

Miocene formations: of the Algarve,
30

Miranda de Ebro: taken by Alfonso
I, 149

Monchique Mass: 29

Monchique Mountains: in the Algarve,
30; serras of, 172; mentioned, 29,
41 n. 6

Mondego River: as south border of
Christendom, 160; mentioned, 21,
26, 56, 57, 81, 91, 143, 153, 171

Mondego River Valley: appeal of, to
Arabs, 141-142; mentioned, 56

Monforte: acquired by Portugal, 178

Montemuro Mountains: 11, 22

Montevideo: occupied by Brazil, 188

Moslems: 137-143. See also Immi-
grants to Iberia; Religion

Mountains, the. See as Montanhas

Moura: acquired by Portugal, 178;
mentioned, 91

Mourao: acquired by Portugal, 178

Muca (Arab leader): 139, 148 n. 10

Muge, early culture of: 62-63

Munuca (Berber leader): opposition
of, to Arabs, 147; mentioned, 146

241

INDEX

Mu Peak: 29
Murcia: 106

Napoleon: 188

Nationality: related to topography, 3-
10 passim

Nationality of Portugal. See Portugal:
nationality of

Natufians: 62

Navarra, province of: 72 , 157, 160

Navas de Tolosa: defeat of Almohades
at, 161

Navia River: 113

Navigation: of Minoans, 86; Greek, in
Mediterranean, 95-97; impeded by
rivers, 200; developments in, as
factor in nationality of Portugal,
214. See also Migration; Immi-
grants to Iberia; Exploration

Nazare: 24

Neolithic Age: Portugal during, 215

Neolithic culture: in Mediterranean
Iberia, 64

Neolithic men in Iberia. See Immi-
grants to Iberia

New Castile province: soil of, 50

Normans: attacks by, in Northwest
Iberia, 154

North Africa: lack of tin in, 93

North Atlantic cyclones: effect of, on
Iberia, 39, 40

Northeast Portugal: landforms of, 15-
19

North Germany: soil of, 48

North Iberia: landforms of, 11-31;
cultural unity of, 108-113; three
centers of power in, 162; acid humic
soil of, 47; intensity of cultivation
in, 48; agropedic soils of, 48; vege-
tation in, 55, 56; architecture of,
67 n. 26; tin of, 69; verracos in, 74;
cultural attitudes of, 109; under
Augustus, 116; Swabian contribu-
tion to, 124, 129; repopulating of,
151-154; advantage of location of,
162; physical anthropology of, 168

North Sea: 45

Northwest Iberia: landforms of, 11-
31; stone sculpture in, 80, 81;
Norman attacks in, 154

Northwest Portugal: landforms of,

11-14; yearly precipitation in, 35;
podsol soil in, 45; Celts in, 72
Nubia: pilgrims from, 156

Oak Region of Western Europe: 52

Occupations: of Celtic man, 75; of
Celtic women, 75; combination of,
in northern mountains, 78; effect
of plow on, 119. See also Agricul-
ture; Commerce; Fighting; Fish-
ing; Gathering; Herding; Hunting;
Metal-working; Navigation; Pottery-
making; Salt-making

Oceanic Iberia: climate of, 35

Oceans: effect of, on climate, 32-33,
34-42 passim; effect of, on drought,
34-35; effect of, on temperature,
34-35; effect of, on vegetation, 35;
effect of, on soils, 45-46; as source
of food, 63; as entryway to Portugal,
169. See also Atlantic Ocean

Old Stone Age: in Iberia, 60

Olivenca: accepted as Portuguese by
Spain, 187; question of, 188-189;
mentioned, 178

Olive oil: Greek trade article, 98;
export article of Portugal, 180

Olives: cultivation of, in north Por-
tugal, 54, 55; in Middle Portugal,
57; in southern Portugal, 58, 117;
introduced into Spain, 98 n. 42

Ophioussa: 95

Oppa (Archbishop): betrayal of
Rodrigo, 138

Opportunism: in extension of nuclear
Portugal, 171. See also Political
Developments

Ordono I: resettlement policy of, 151

Ordono II: diploma of, 140

Ordono III (Leonese king): 155

O Rei Lavrador. See Diniz

Orense: Moslem destruction of, 139;
taken by Theresa, 167; pilgrimage
road through, 194

Oropedic soil: 49 n. 11

Oviedo: soil of, 47

Padrela Mountains: 14

Padron. See Iria Flavia

Palencia: site of, 77

Paleolithic Period: hunters of, enter

242

INDEX

Iberia, 60-61. See also Epipaleo-
lithic; Lower Paleolithic; Post-
Paleolithic; Upper Paleolithic; Im-
migrants to Iberia
Palestine: Neolithic dolmens of, 66,

67

Palmela: abandoned to crusaders, 174
Paradela; as international point with

Duero, 16; mentioned, 19, 200
Passageways. See Immigrants to Ibe-
ria: passageways used by
Pedalfer soil: 47 n. 6
Pedocal soil: area of, 48; mentioned,

47 n. 6

Pedro the Cruel of Spain: 184
Pelayo: opposition to Moslems of,

145-148

Penas de Europa: 145
Peneda Mountains: 11, 12, 19. See

also as Montanhas
Peneplain: of Lower Alentejo, 29
Penha de Pelayo: location of, 148 n.

10
Peres, Fernando: union with Theresa,

167; expelled from Portugal, 167
Persians: threat to Phocaeans, 97
Philip II: Portugal under, 186
Philip III: Portugal under, 186
Philip IV: Portugal under, 186
Phocaea: capture of, 99; mentioned,

96

Phocaean Greeks: close contact with
Tartessos, 96; colonization by, 96;
mentioned, 96-97

Phoenicians. See Immigrants to Iberia
Piracy: as related to trade and fishing,

99

Pirates: at Gadir, 94
Pityoussa. See Ibiza
Pityusas. See Balearic Islands
Pliocene clays: in the Algarve, SO
Plow: brought into Iberia by Celts,
76; effect of, on woman's work, 76
77; exploitation of Iberia with, 77;
effect of, on men in agriculture, 119;
Central European quadrangular, in-
troduced by Swabians, 123
Podsol soil: location in Europe, 43,
45, 46; description of, 43 n. 2; men-
tioned, 46
Political developments: resulting from

topography, 3-10 passim, 49; in
relation to rivers, 19; in relation to
culture, 137, 157; affected by reli-
gion, 145-153 passim, 157-163 pas-
sim, 164, 165, 174; as factors in
nationality of Portugal, 144-155,
156-163, 164-170; affected by
isolation of Portugal, 169, 178-179,
215; importance of, in extension of
Portugal, 171-173

Polybius: quoted, 82, 103

Pontevedra: rias of, 55

Population; distribution of: as factor
determining political boundaries of
Iberia, 190-203; in Iberia, 191; as
factor in isolation of Portugal, 190,
203; in northwest and Mediterranean
areas, 206; in areas of sparse settle-
ment, 206-208; in present pattern
of Iberia, 208

Portalegre: 197

Porto: rainfall in, 38; Moslem destruc-
tion of, 139; taken by Alfonso, 148;
re-established, 152; resettlement of
Minho from, 169, 192; harbor of,
214; mentioned, 153, 158, 173, 185

Portucale. See Porto

Portugal: name of, 153, 168-169;
strategic position of, 183-185 pas-
sim; international relations of, 183-
189; peculiar values of, 216-217

boundaries of: established, 174-178;
in Olivenca dispute, 187, 188-189;
affected by marriage portions, 189;
geography of, 190-203; through
areas of small attraction, 190-199;
influenced by religion, 194; affected
by lack of communication, 200;
affected by lack of rivers, 200-202;
in relation to economic usefulness
of rivers, 202; influenced by cul-
ture, 202. See also Communication;
Culture, national or ethnic; Reli-
gion; Rivers; Topography

culture of. See Culture, national or
ethnic

economy of: 216-217; and internal
development, 179-180; compared
with that of Spain, 170-182; based
on agriculture and stock-raising,
216; mentioned, 162, 163, 183. See

243

INDEX

also Occupations; Resources, natural

extension of. See Political develop-
ments; Religion

individuality of: theories concern-
ing, 6-10; factors creating (see
Climate; Colonization; Commerce;
Communication; Exploration; Mi-
gration; Navigation; Oceans; Poli-
tical developments; Religion; Riv-
ers; Soils; Topography; Vegetation)

isolation of: 3-10, 4, 89, 106-107,
143; topographical, 11-31 passim,
162, 169-170; in climate, 32-42,
162-163; in soils, 43-51 passim; in
vegetation, 52-59 passim; for ex-
ploration and settlement, 62, 65;
from cultural movements, 67, 68,
90, 111; in offside position, 68-69
(see Portugal: offside position of);
in northwest core, 140; new eco-
nomic focus in, 152-154; related to
special character of area of settle-
ment, 152-154; political significance
of, 162, 169, 178-179; improve-
ments in agriculture resulting from,
162-163; from Galicia, 169-170;
influenced by distribution of popu-
lation, 190, 203

nationality of: political influences
in, 144-155 passim, 156-163 pas-
sim, 162-163, 166, 169-170, 212-
213; significance of the resettlement
for, 152, 152-154; religion as factor
in, 155-156, 170; final steps toward,
164-170; officially declared, 168;
resulting from both geographic and
political causes, 168-169; affected
by Santiago de Compostela Pilgrim-
age, 170; resulting from complex of
causes, 170; completion of, 171-
182; related to culture, 182, 212;
affected by exploration, 184; con-
solidated, 185; affected by Atlantic
Ocean, 185, 213; development of
strong national spirit in, 185; en-
couraged by physical differences
from the meseta, 212; geographical
basis for, 212-216; factors contri-
buting to, summarized, 212-217;
affected by excellent ports, 214,
215; affected by luck (oppor-

tunism), 214; affected by associa-
tion with England, 214; affected by
developments in navigation, 214;
and separation from Galicia, 214-
215; in relation to offside position,
215-217 ^

offside position of: 215-217; to pre-
historic peoples, 62, 65, 68, 69, 215-
to Greeks, 89, 90, 215; to Phoeni-
cians, 89, 90, 215; to Carthaginians,
89, 90, 104-106, 107, 214; to
Romans, 114, 115, 215-216; to
Swabians, 123-124, 216; to Visi-
goths, 129, 216; to Moslems, 140-
141, 143, 216; to Central Europeans,
215; to Tartessians, 215; and ex-
ceptions to assumption of Portugal's
unimportance, 216; to Spain, 216.
See also Portugal: isolation of, na-
tionality of

rivers of. See Rivers; Topography

ties of, with Spain: 3-10 passim;
topographically, 11-31 passim; in
climate, 82-42 passim; in soils, 43-
51 passim; in vegetation, 52-59
passim

topography of. See Topography;
Rivers

See abo Atlantic Ocean; Climate;
Commerce; Culture; Humid Iberia;
Immigrants to Iberia; Mediterranean
Iberia; Middle Portugal; North
Portugal; Northeast Portugal; North-
west Portugal; Oceanic Iberia;
Oceans; Political developments;
Rivers; Soils; South Portugal; Tem-
perature; Topography; Vegetation

Portuguese: as distinct from Spaniards,
4; sense of individuality among, 5;
theories of origin of individuality
of, 6-7. See also Portugal

Portus Gale. See Porto

Post-Paleolithic men in Iberia. See
Immigrants to Iberia

Post-Paleozoic sediments: 12

Pottery-making: in Neolithic culture,
64; of the pre-Celts, 80

Pre-Cambrian rock formations: 16

Precipitation: of the meseta, 34; as
recorded at climatic stations, 37;
and soils, 45-46. See also Rainfall

244

INDEX

Prehistoric men in Iberia. 60-69. See
also Immigrants to Iberia

Priscillian, death of: 135

Priscillian heresy: 135

Provincia Portucalense: 153

Puebla de Senabria: 197

Punic interest: in Portugal, 89, 97-99,
215. See also Immigrants to Iberia:
Carthaginians

Punic settlements: in Portugal, 89.
See also Immigrants to Iberia: Car-
thaginians

Pyrenees: herders of, 66; Celts enter
through, 72; Germanic tribes enter
across, 124; mentioned, 9, 45

Quaternary deposits: of coastal fringe,

24

Quijano, Gonzalez: map of, 34
Quintas: of present northwest Por-
tugal, 116

Rainfall: of Mediterranean Portugal,
36; as affected by meteorological
action, 38-41; effect of, on soils,
45-46, 48-49; in relation to vege-
tation, 55. See also Climate; Pre-
cipitation

Raymond, Count of Galicia: death of,
165; mentioned, 156, 164, 165

Rechiarius (Swabian king): conver-
sion of, to Christianity, 135

Reconquest of Iberia, the: 144163

Religion: under Roman rule, 133-136;
as factor preventing conquest by
Moslems, 140; as factor in continu-
ity of a culture, 145-163 passim;
as factor in nationality of Portugal,
155-156, 170, 171-172; as factor
in political developments, 157163
passim, 164, 165, 174; as influence
on Portuguese boundaries

Remismund (Swabian king): 135

Rendizinas: 77

Resources, natural: 102-106; in Al-
garve culture, 69; sources of, known
by Tartessians, 92; in Galicia, listed,
92; in Guadalquivir Valley, listed,
92

Ria harbors: of Galicia, 214

Rias: 55

Ribatego, the: 26

Rio de Onor: on boundary line, 195
Rio Tinto: mines of, 199 n. 10
Rivers: and granite massif, 12-14; of
Minho, 1214; of Tras-os-Montes,
15-16; effect of, on human affairs,
16-20; as Portuguese boundaries,
16, 19, 23; and culture, 16-20;
political significance of, 19; related
to agriculture, 19; valleys of, and
climate, 22; of Beira, 21-23; of the
Alentejo, 26-29; as bounds of vege-
tation areas, 56; as boundaries of
soil areas, 57; and navigation, 200;
lack of, as cause of shifting bounda-
ries, 200-202; and political bounda-
ries, 200-203; economic uselessness
of, in relation to boundaries, 202;
as barriers, 202 n. 12
Rock formations: of Minho Province,
11-14; of Tras-os-Montes, 14-19;
of Upper Beira, 21-22; of Estre-
madura, 24; of Beira Littoral, 24,
26; of the Alentejo, 29; of the
Algarve, 30. See also Basalt; Crystal-
lines; Granite; Jurassic; Marls;
Mesozoic; Miocene; Mica schists;
Pliocene; Pre-Cambrian; Sandstones;
Syenite; Tertiary; Triassic sandstones
Rodrigo (Visigoth king): 138, 144,

145
Roman institutions: presistence of in

Iberia, 135

Roman judicial districts: 118
Romans. See Immigrants to Iberia:

Romans
Romyoussa. See Mallorca

Sabor River: valley of, 22

Sabugah acquired by Portugal, 178;
mentioned, 189, 197

Sado River: drainage of, 26, 29; men-
tioned, 106

Sado Valley: 143

St. Fructuosus of Braga: 137

Salacia. See Alcacer do Sal

Salamanca ( weather station ) : precipi-
tation at, 34

Salamanca province: soil of, 50; ver-
racos of, 74; taken by Alfonso I,
148

Salor River: irrigable lands of, 216

245

INDEX

Salt-making; opportunity for, in
Iberia, 89; at Gadir, 94; in southern
Portugal, 106; in the Algarve, 173

Samora province: verracos of, 74

Samos: 96

Sancho II: reign of, 175

Sancho (son of Alfonso VI): death of
165

Sandstones: of the Algarve, 30

Santander province: Celts in, 72

Santiago de Compostela: pilgrimage
to, 155-156, 170, 215; sack by al-
Mansur, 158; as factor in nationality
of Portugal, 170; as religious and
pilgrimage center, 194; as factor
in determining Portuguese-Spanish
border, 194

Sao Mamede, Battle of: 167

Saragossa: 159

Sardinia: Punic interest in, 99; con-
quered by Carthage, 103; men-
tioned, 95

Sardis: capture of, 99

Schists: of southern Portugal, 29; of
the Algarve, 30; of Serra do Cal-
deirao, 199. See also Mica schists;
Silurian schists

Sefes tribe: 82, 83

Segura: 189

Serpa: acquired by Portugal, 177, 178

Serra da Estrela: fault line along, 22;
description of, 23-24; mentioned,
21

Serra da Gata: 22

Serra das Mesas: 22, 197

Serra de Laboreiro: 192

Serra de S. Mamede: 200

Serra do Caldeirao: 199

Sesnando, Count of Coimbra: 155

Settlements. See Colonization; Migra-
tion; Immigrants to Iberia

Setubal: harbor of, 214

Setubal Peninsula: 58

Sever River: 200

Seville: king of, 159, 160; raids south
of, 160; Castilian-Leonese conquest
of, 177; as Moslem center, 174;
rebellion of, in 713, 139

Sheep industry of Spain: development
of, 181

Shell mounds: of Muge, 62

Sicily: 103

Sidon: site of, 94; fishing center, 89

Sierra Morena: 9, 48

Siliceous soils: 56, 57

Silingian Vandals: area of, in Iberia,
125; move to Africa, 127

Silurian schists: soils developed from
46 ^

Silver: used in Argaric culture, 69;
in trade article of Tartessians, 92;
increased interest in, 102

Sflves: built by Arabs, 141; falls to
crusaders, 174; conquest of, by Por-
tuguese, 177

Simancas Province: taken by Alfonso
I, 149

Sintra: taken by crusaders, 174

Sisbert (Visigoth leader): 138

Soajo: area of, 194

Soils: of Minho Province, 45; of the
Meseta, 46; developed from gran-
ites, 46; developed from Mesozoic
materials, 46; calcareous, 46, 47; of
Holland, 48; of Tras-os-Montes, 49.
See also Acid-humic; Agropedic;
Galega; Humid siallitic; Intermedi-
ate siallitic; Oropedic; Pedalfer;
Pedocal; Podsol; Siliceous; Terra
rossa; Xero-siaUitic

Soils: as related to culture, 3-10 pas-
sim; of Europe, 43; differences in,
between oceanic border and meseta,
43-46; podsol, in Portugal, 43-46;
of Western Europe, 44; effect of
ocean on, 45-46; in relation to cli-
mate, 45-46, 47, 47-48, 48-49, 49,
50, 51; of the oceanic area, 47; of
the interior, 47-48; fertilization of,
48; affected by cultivation, 48; agro-
pedic, 48-49; of Tras-os-M6ntes,
49-50; terra rossa, 50; effect of,
upon vegetation, 53-58 passim; ef-
fect of, upon population, 199
classifications of: by Del Villar, 46,
47; by Stremme, 50; compared, 50-
51 "

Soult: 169 n. 24

South Portugal: physical character-
istics of, 29-30; vegetation of, 58;
copper of, 69; poor in metals, 106
Spain: international rivers of, 16, 19,

246

INDEX

23; boundaries of, 177-178; atti-
tude of toward agriculture, 179,
180, 181; sheep industry of, 180-
181; economy of, 180-182, 216;
and seizure of Portugal for the
"Spanish Captivity/' 186; attitude
of, to importance of Portugal, 216.
See also Iberia

Spanish Captivity: Portugal during,
186-187

Sto. Domingos: mine at, 199

Stone sculpture: in northwest Iberia,
80, 81; Megalithic phenomena, 66,
67. See also Dolmens; Verracos

Stone-working: age of, 80

Strabo: cited, 75, 78, 82, 91, 104, 108,
116

Straits of Gibraltar: 87, 99, 101

Stremme, H.: soil classification by, 51

Sulphur: of Sto. Domingos, 199

Summer weather conditions in Iberia:
38-39

S. Vincente: soil of, 47

Swabians. See Immigrants to Iberia:
Germans; Swabians

Switzerland: La Tene culture in, 84 n.
62

Syenite formations: of South Portugal,
29

Syrakoussai: 95

Tacitus: cited, 123, 133

Tagus River. See Tajo River; Tejo

River
Tajo River: valley of, 214; irrigable

lands of, 216; mentioned, 202 n. 12.

See also Tejo River
Talavera de la Reina: 116
Tamega River: valley of, 169; upper

valley of, 192-194; mentioned, 14,

19

Tarasia. See Theresa
Tareja. See Theresa
Tank (Moslem leader): 138, 139
Tarraconensis : Roman administrative

division, 117, 118
Tartessians: in Guadalquivir valley,

91; economy of, 92, 93; contact of

with Greeks, 92, 93; mentioned, 65,

215
Tartessos: possible first Greek contact

with, 96; close contact of with
Phocaeans, 97; destroyed by Car-
thage, 103; influence of, in the
Algarve, 173; mentioned, 93, 101

Tejo River: drainage of, 26, 29, 200;
Celts living near, 82; as barrier to
Lisbon, 143; Romans in area of
lower, 216; mentioned, 23, 24, 45,
56, 62, 111, 133, 141, 175, 177.
See also Tajo River

Tejo Valley: Arabs settle in, 142;
mentioned, 56, 115

Tell-el-Amarna: 87

Temperature: of Iberia in January,
33; of the meseta, 34; as recorded
at climatic stations, 37; as affected
by meteorological action, 38-41;
seasonal, 41-42

Terra quente (hot country): 22

Terra rossa soil: areas of, 50

Tertiary lands: of the coastal fringe,
24; of the Alentejo, 29; in the
Algarve, 30

Tertiary rock formations: 12

Theodoric (Visigoth king): 135

Theresa: marriage to Henry, 164; as
monarch of North Portugal, 166-
167; union with Fernando Peres of
Galicia, 167; expelled from Por-
tugal, 167

Tiberius (Emperor): 118

Tin: of north Portugal, 69; as trade
article of Tartessians, 92-93; source
of, 92; lack of, in Caucasid, 93; as
basis of prosperity in Galicia, 101;
in relation to decline of Galicia,
102; exhausted in Galicia, 102

Toledo: politics of, 137; king of, 159;
taken by Alfonso VI, 160; men-
tioned, 129, 144

Tomar: 24

Tools and implements: of Epipaleo-
lithic people, 63; of the Asturians,
64; flints of prehistoric peoples as,
64; of Neolithic people, 64; axes as,
69; Celtic wagon, 73; plow, 76-77,
119; hoe, 119

Topography: as related to culture, 3-
10 passim, 14, 141, 172-173; as
related to nationality, 3-10 passim,
11, 12, 31; diversity of, in Portugal,

247

INDEX

9-10, 31; of Minho, 11-14; as poli-
tical influence, 12, 19, 49; granite
massif, 12; of Tras-os-Montes, 14-
16; and economics, 19; of Beira,
21-24; of Estremadura, 24-26; of
the Alentejo, 26-30; of the Algarve,
3031; as influence on colonization,
140-143 passim; effect of, upon
military operations, 141, 147-148;
effect of, upon settlement, 143; as
related to isolation of Portugal,
162-163, 169-170; differences of
southern provinces from nuclear
Portugal in, 171; along Portuguese
boundaries, 190-203

Torto River: as boundary, 200

Touroes River: as boundary, 200

Trade. See Commerce

Transmontane Beira: physical char-
acteristics of, 22; plain of, 24

Tras-os-Montes Province: physical
characteristics of, 14-19, 195-197;
influence of rivers on, 19; frontier
of, 21; meseta-type climate, 36; soil
of, 49; collective systems of, 78
n. 42; eastern boundary of, 175;
growth of nationalism in, 185;
boundaries of, 195-196; climate of,
196, 197

Triassic formations: in the Algarve, 30

Triassic sandstones: of the coastal
fringe, 24; of Estremadura, 24

Truck gardens: of Vila Real de Santo
Antonio, 199

Trujillo: as Moslem fort, 161

Turditanian people: location in Iberia,
91

Tuscany: mines of, 93

Tuy: Moslem destruction of, 139;
bishop of, 140; re-established, 151;
destroyed by Normans, 154; taken
by Theresa, 167

Tyre: site of, 94; decline of, 96, 97

Tyrrhenian Sea: 99

Upper Alentejo: 26

Upper Beira province: landforms of,

21-22

Upper Paleolithic Period: 60-61, 62
Urnfields people: in Iberia, 70, 71
Urraca: marriage to Raymond, 164;

marriage to Alfonso of Aragon, 165;
at war with Alfonso of Aragon, 167

Vacceos: collectivist society of, 77;
economy of, 77

Valencia: controlled by Alfonso VI,
160

Valladolid: precipitation at ? 34, 35;
summer rainfall of, 36; site of, 77

Valleys. See Rivers

Vandals: as East Germans, 122; entry
into Iberia, 124-125. See aha
Asdingian; Silingian

Vegetation: affected by ocean, 35;
contrasts of, between humid Iberia
and the meseta, 53-54; in relation
to soils, 53-58 passim; in subdi-
visions of humid Iberia, 54-56; sub-
divisions in, in Portugal, 5658; of
southern Portugal, 58; affected by
environmental conditions, 59; effect
of man upon, 59; in relation to
settlement, 123; in relation to cli-
mate, 32, 35, 36, 52, 53-54, 54-58
passim

regions of: in Western Europe, 52-
53; Oak, 52; Holly, 52-53; Beech,
52-53; in northern and western
Iberia, 53-59

Verin: 19, 169, 194

Vermcos: in northwest Iberia, 74

Viana do Castelo (weather station):
38

Vigo: rias of, 55; mentioned, 158

Vila Real: 12

Vila Real de Santo Antonio: vegetable
production of, 199

Vilarica River: 22

Vila Vigosa: Portuguese victory at,
187

Villas: established in Iberia by
Romans, 116

Vinhais: lands of, 197

Viriathus: opposition of to Romans,
115

Viseu: fortified by Rome, 116; diocese
of, 131; conquest of, 146 n. 10;
taken by Alfonso I, 148; mentioned,
158

Visigoths. See Immigrants to Iberia:
Visigoths

248

INDEX

Vitiza (Visigoth King); succeeds Egi-

ga, 144; mentioned, 138
Vizcaya province: 72
Vouga River: 24

Wagon, Central European: introduced

by Celts to Iberia, 73
Weapons: used in Almeria, 65; made

of iron, 79
Wheat: cultivated by Celts, 75; grown

by Vacceos, 77, 117
Wine: Greek trade article, 98; intro-

duced to Iberia, 98 n. 42; export
article of Portugal, 180
Winter weather conditions in Iberia:
39, 40

Xero-siallitic soil: area of, 47; in Tras-
os-Montes: 49

Zalaca: Moslem victory at, 160
Zamora: soil of, 48; site of, 77; taken

by Alfonso I, 148; pilgrimage road

from, 194; mentioned, 16

Continued from front flap )

opportunity to trade with England, and navi-
gational experience.

( 4 ) Rapid improvement in navigation tech-
niques at a time when Portugal was in posi-
tion to take advantage of them.

(5) The advent of the Age of Discoveries,
which developed among Portuguese an intense
patriotism and a pride in national achieve-
ment.

(6) The peculiar "offside" position of Portu-
gal in reference to the interests of Spain.

Photographs, made by the author, reveal
the natural beauty of the Portuguese land-
scape and the activities of the people.

Dr. Stanislawski, Professor of Geography
at the University of Texas, has traveled widely
in both hemispheres. He has done field work in
Latin America and in Mediterranean countries,
gathering background material and firsthand
information on individual culture regions.

Several years of work on Latin American cul-
tures led him to Iberia for a deeper under-
standing of Latin America. From Spain and
Portugal he went to Italy, completing more
than a year of study in each country.

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS PRESS

124 238